The Immaculate Shinobi
by sephiroth12285
Summary: redoneIf many birds are caged, and if more are added over time it’s only a matter of time before one escapes becoming a caged bird. Now the escaped bird will engaged the masters of those caged My first HinataNaruto fic.summary inside, Plz R
1. Chapter 1 Bird of Prey

A/N: Ok I rewrote Immaculate Shinobi to make it better and to improve on some faults I did with the last one. And I wasn't too pleased with how it was turning out so I am redoing it square one.

Summary: _If many birds are caged, and if more are added over time it's only a matter of time before one escapes becoming a caged bird. _With the death of Orochimaru; Naruto and friends have gone to locate Sasuke to bring him back to Konoha. However in the shadows lurk old adversaries now united by one shinobi…a former student of Orochimaru. Naruto/Hinata story with the star roles of this story shared between them and the story's antagonist.Their fates will become intertwined as bloodlines and events of the past will collide. This story begins during manga chapter 356 where Kabuto reveals his…new self if you know what I mean.

I am trying hard to make this the best fic I can, so please read and leave a review. I'll have another chapter posted shortly depending on the number of reviews this first chapter receives. There will be character deaths and characters pairings have been already planned out so just read and enjoy my story and leave a review…please : )

Chapter 1

Bird of Prey

It was a sunny day in the land of fire with very few clouds in the sky. In a small clearing in a forest that was approximately seventy miles northeast of Konohagakure. Standing in the clearing was three shinobi from Konoha in the company of a large pit bull. In front of them stood a man in his late twenties wearing a hood and cloak that concealed most of his body save his head.

The man in question had just pulled back his cloak revealing his face; he had grayish white hair and glasses. However the man was now showing off some deformities on his body, for instance his entire left arm had become scaly like of a snake while his left eye had a black lining around it with the eye itself becoming a yellow reptilian eye.

The cloaked man had dropped a black book onto the ground in front of the Konoha shinobi, but as their conversation continued with the cloaked man explaining the reason behind the alterations on his body another group of shinobi was near by watching events unfold.

One of them, the leader of the group was a young man around sixteen years of age dressed in a white long sleeved half coat with large bell like sleeves. It was tied at the waist with a purple robe-like belt tied tightly around his waist, with the kimono cutting off two inches away from the knees down, while the white paints he wore were slightly baggy near the top of the shin guards he wore.

The coat was left open leaving the young man's chest exposed. Around his waist he wore an additional piece of clothing which was a black loin cloth wrapped around his waist.

He wore black sandals with soles designed with treads to give him better traction. Above them he wore black shin guards lined with sliver while on his back he had a pair of two chokuto swords made out of a shinning sliver metal with the handle warped in a white cloth allowing for a good grip.

The blades themselves were inside black sheaths attached to his belt in an X shape pattern. Bangs of white hair hung over parts of his face and almost covered his left eye. He wore purple eye shadow in a similar fashion as another shinobi does. His white hair itself hung half way down his back. He wore the black gloves used by Anbu members with the metal hand protector.

The boy's skin however was unnaturally pale due to the fact that he was an albino and lastly his eyes were a frightening reptilian blue with silt-like irises. Next to him was another young man who was an approximately a year older standing just 5'6 next to the albino shinobi who was 5'7.

This shinobi was dressed in a dark green half coat, olive color pleated trousers, a dark brown obi, a white oval shaped mask belonging to the ANBU black ops of the Hidden Mist Village while wearing sandals.

Also in their company was one other shinobi standing at 5'5 with pale skin and white hair, he wore white long sleeved shirt like robes with a light violet tint, black paints, and a purple rope-like belt around his waist. He had red eye shadow under his green eyes and two red dots on his head.

The rest of their group consisted of Kirigakure ANBU black ops members, they were all wearing cloaks that concealed their bodies, but their heads were the only parts of their bodies exposed with the exception of a Hidden Mist ANBU mask concealing their faces.

"I know that boy" the young man with the ANBU mask commented.

"Yes…I met him once myself." The second shinobi with white hair and green eyes noted while the albino added.

"Yes...I believe his name is Naruto Uzumaki, Yamato from the Konoha ANBU black ops and lastly Hinata Hyuga, heiress of the Hyuga Clan of Konoha. The dog I believe is one of Kakashi's summoned ninja dogs."

"What do we do about Kabuto?" The masked shinobi asked.

"For now he doesn't pose a threat to us, but he is an annoying crack pot who will be dealt with in good time."

"What about Naruto and the others?" The white haired shinobi asked.

"Leave them be for now…we have an Uchiha to hunt. If they learn our purpose is to kill Uchiha then he'll get in the way. His presence here only means we must make haste."

"Good point…Danzo and the Konoha's council did mention Naruto would most likely attempt to stop you from killing Uchiha."

"Exactly…they were right though to leave the Fifth Hokage out of the loop…she is too soft for her position if you ask me. Now let's move on…I know where Sasuke is." The albino shinobi said darkly.

"Of course Kikoshi-sama."

The group stealthily moved away from Naruto and his group, but before leaving Kikoshi cast a dark glare at Hinata. He smiled at the young woman, but his smile hid dark intentions for the young woman.


	2. Chapter 2 To test one’s capacity

A/N: I'll try to update a chapter once a week on firday.

* * *

Chapter 2

To test one's capacity

A couple miles to the east from where Naruto, Yamato and Hinata were confronting Kabuto. Kikoshi and his group moved on closing in on Sasuke's location rapidly. As they drew nearer to Sasuke's location the sound of a large explosion was heard up ahead of them.

"What was that?" One of the Hidden Mist ANBU asked.

"A giant dragon made of explosive clay falling to earth. Sasuke is fighting two members of Akatsuki." Kikoshi answered.

"How can you tell we can't see it?" Another member of the ANBU traveling with them asked.

"Lets just say my eye sight is pretty damn good." Kikoshi answered with a smirk. "Haku…take one of the black ops with you and call in the others to our location. Tell them we found Sasuke and we're moving to engage him. Inform them that another group of the Konoha search party under Naruto, Kakashi and Yamato command is drawing closer to the battle as well."

"Understood." Haku replied before he hurried off to the west to collect the rest of the hunting party searching for Sasuke. One of the ANBU left to follow Haku a second later as the rest of the group were quickly closing the distance between them and Sasuke.

* * *

Meanwhile back where Naruto, Hinata, and Yamato were. Kabuto had just made a hasty escape when Naruto and Yamato attempted to apprehend him. Like Kikoshi and his group they too heard the distance sound of an explosion to the east.

"What was that?" Naruto asked as he looked in the direction where the sound of the blast was heard from.

"I'll check" Hinata offered as she used her byakugan to look far into the distance trying to determine the source of the explosion. In moments she saw another clearing where there was smoking rising up to the sky. No doubt she had found where the explosion occurred. Beyond the smoke she saw someone kneeling on a tree branch, his robe was hanging at his sides, but the black hair and its style was unmistakable. "I have found Sasuke!"

"Really are you sure?" Naruto asked happily.

"Positive, but it seems he is in the middle of a battle."

"What? With who?" Yamato asked.

"I am looking, but so far I don't see anyone else. Whoever Sasuke was fighting may have been defeated."

"Well that's good?" Naruto commented.

"Hold on!" Hinata called out, as it seemed she spoke too soon. "I see someone emerging from the smoke…it's a long haired blonde shinobi riding a white bird of some kind. He must be the one Sasuke has been fighting."

"Blonde hair and a white bird? Is it Akatsuki?" Yamato asked.

"I can't tell…he is not wearing any of the distinguishing clothing of their organization." Hinata pointed out.

"It is Akatsuki…blonde hair and a white bird. Sounds like the member Kakashi and I fought when we tried to rescue Gaara."

"The one who was partnered with Sasori?" Yamato asked.

"Yeah sounds like the same the guy, and that explosion was probably his work." Suddenly Yamato pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket along with a pen as he used Naruto's back as a make shift table to write something down. "Hey what are you doing?"

"Sorry Naruto, but I am writing down a short message Bull can deliver to the others. We better move towards the battle and intercept Sasuke while we have the chance. Bull will deliver this message to Kakashi and the others telling them where we'll be. Even if I can't tell them the exact location…Bull should be able to lead them to our location."

Once Yamato finished writing the note he slipped it onto Bull and sent the dog on its way while it started barking to alert the rest of Kakashi's ninja dogs who would in turn alert the others.

"Lets go help Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he, Hinata and Yamato hurried towards Sasuke's location.

* * *

Meanwhile around the same time about four and half kilometers away. In the middle of a barren and rocky area, Kakashi Hatake was standing on top of a small pile of rocks looking to the east. Resting on his shoulder was his ninja dog Pakkun.

"Anything?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing, but" Pakkun stopped short when he heard the sound of Bull barking. "Wait…Bull is calling us."

"Bull…did Akatsuki ambush Naruto or did they find Sasuke?"

"They found Sasuke, but it seems a member of Akatsuki is fighting against him. Naruto, Yamato and Hinata are moving to intercept. Bull is call us to rendezvous to so he can lead us to them."

"Then lets get going I hope the others are already on their way." Kakashi turned and hurried towards Bull's location with Pakkun leading the way.

* * *

Around the same time Sasuke was looking up at the Akatsuki member Deidara, a former shinobi from Iwagakure. Flying overhead on one of his clay creations, Deidara had just barely escaped death at the hands of Sasuke who nearly killed the Akatsuki member by pinning him to his own creation made from a type of powerful explosive clay and sending it falling onto a field of landmines Deidara's partner Tobi had planted during their battle.

Round one ended in Sasuke's favor, now it was the beginning of round two as Deidara was ready to unleash everything in his arsenal against the youngest survivor of the Uchiha family. Deidara was beginning the next round of this battle by spitting out large amounts of an explosive called C4 from his mouth towards Sasuke.

In the trees near by, Kikoshi was watching the battle as he was preparing himself to enter the fray and engage Sasuke. However something would have to be done about the two Akatsuki members to ensure Kikoshi could face Sasuke one on one. But there was another problem he had just become aware of as he looked over his shoulder.

"It seems things may become complicated soon."

"What do you mean?" The white haired shinobi asked.

"Naruto, Hinata and the ANBU agent Yamato are aware of Sasuke's location and are now moving to intercept. It won't be long after they arrive that Kakashi and the others will be here. We'll have to move ahead now…Kimimaro I'll need you to take out the Akatsuki agent up there. I'll take Sasuke myself."

"What about the other one?" The revived member of Sound Five asked.

"Leave him to Ekitai."

"Yes Kikoshi-sama."

"Ekitai!" Kikoshi called as a female member of the Hidden Mist ANBU stepped forward.

"Yes Kikoshi-sama?"

"Have the other Hidden Mist ANBU with us use the Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave to provide the necessary water for you to use against that Akatsuki member hiding in the trees and for me to use against Sasuke. Proceed as plan from there once the masked shinobi is done with."

"I shall carry out your orders Lord Kikoshi." Ekitai slipped away into the shadows as the ANBU began moving stealthy into position. At the same time Kikoshi drew his arms out of his robe and allowed them to drop to his sides. A moment later his curse seal of heaven bestowed upon him by Orochimaru at a young age activated as black flame like patterns covered his back and chest along with part of his arm and the left lower half of his face.

The black botches on his back spread out and solidified giving his back a light gray color. Less than a second later a pair of demon-like wing spouted from his back. With a smile on his face Kikoshi drew a thin piece of black cloth from his robes and blindfolded himself before drawing one of his swords.

"I am not taking any chances with you Uchiha…as long as I don't make eye contact with you…any genjutsu you have that requires eye contact will be useless." Kikoshi said to himself as he spread out his wings.

* * *

Focusing back on the battle, Sasuke was ready to handle whatever Deidara could dish out against him. If this was the best the former Iwa shinobi was planning to use against him. Then Sasuke intended to counter it and defeat him. As the explosive was close to landing on him, the young Uchiha saw the falling clay spring to life as the falling pieces assumed the forms of four winged birds.

Acting fast to get away from them, Sasuke leapt back to avoid the first two as the collided into the tree he was standing on. Moving away while at the same time he fashioned another blade composed out of lightning element charka. He extended the blade to five meters as he sliced apart any of the clay birds that were getting dangerous close to him.

Sasuke kept moving away to avoid getting caught in the resulting explosions, but above him the remaining clay Deidara was splitting out had combined and assumed the shape of a hawk. The smaller birds were merely a diversion Deidara was using to buy time so he could prepare his real exploding creature intended for Sasuke.

"This is it!" Deidara shouted proudly as his creation dived down towards Sasuke.

Meanwhile a figure leapt up from the ground towards Deidara while at the same moment Sasuke back away further and took cover behind a tree. A second later he came out, but this time he was launching himself into the air at Deidara as he was trying to get pass the stone shinobi's clay creation.

"Bad move little man!" Deidara shouted happily as he preformed the hand-sign required to detonate his creation with Sasuke going right over it. Sasuke couldn't away in time as the explosion engulfed him. "Its over…I guess your victory over Orochimaru was a fluke after all. Nothing can compare against my art."

Suddenly from below a blade crafted out of charka shot up from the trees below as Sasuke appeared jump up into the air. His blade penetrated the belly of Deidara's clay bird he was riding on. If Deidara hadn't noticed the blade at the very last moment he would have lost his right arm. Sasuke had created a shadow clone while he was behind the tree for a moment. He used it to draw attention away from himself so he could launch a counterattack from under Deidara's explosive clay creature he was riding.

"What the hell?"

"Sempai…behind you!" Tobi shouted, as a figure was standing right behind Deidara armed with a blade. Deidara looked over his shoulder and saw Kimimaro about to stab her in the head with his bone sword. However Tobi's warning gave Deidara barely enough time to duck and roll off the side of his winged creature.

"Enjoy some of my art." Deidara said as he sent three small clay birds flying at Kimimaro. Jumping backwards, the Kaguya clan member fired finger bones from his right hand at the flying explosive projectiles. The clay creatures were torn apart by Kimimaro's bone bullets as the Kaguya Clan member, but Deidara performed the hand sign to detonate the creature Kimimaro was standing on.

The Sound Ninja was engulfed in the ensuring blast, but Deidara didn't have a chance to enjoy her supposed victory since she had Sasuke to worry about now. Speaking of whom, Deidara looked to his left and saw Sasuke almost within arms reach. Deidara tried to move away, but Sasuke stabbed him through the right shoulder with his chidori blade as the Akatsuki member was turning towards him.

Lightning charka surged through Deidara's body as he was instantly paralyzed. As Sasuke closed in to put in a finishing blow, a figure was falling towards Deidara…it was Kimimaro. He survived the explosion, but his body was a mess. His clothes were ripped and brunt while covered in his blood.

He had produced bone masks under his skin to protect himself from the explosion. Although areas of his body revealed the thick layer of bone under his skin that had formed did its job of keeping Kimimaro safe. The last of Kaguya Clan was still more than capable of participating in battle despite the _flesh wound _he has suffered.

Sasuke turned his head slightly and was surprised at the sight of Kimimaro. Although he had never met the shinobi, but Sasuke was more or less slightly surprised to see that someone like Kimimaro had survived such an explosion and his body was already regenerating from the damaged inflicted. Sasuke withdrew his chidori sword in anticipation of a possible attack from Kimimaro.

Kimimaro took Deidara by his shoulders as a sharp pain suddenly shot up through the Akatsuki member's body. Kimimaro withdrew both hands revealing that he had impaled Deidara's shoulders with bone spikes that had spouted from his palms. Bringing his hands to the holes in his shoulders Sasuke and Kimimaro left reflexively, Deidara was vainly trying to stop the bleeding.

"Its useless." Kimimaro noted coldly as he slashed open Deidara's arms with his bone blades. Deidara had deep cuts going down from her wrist to her elbows on both arms. With a punch to the face Deidara slammed into the ground hard causing Tobi to come out of hiding to aid his sempai.

"Deidara-sempai!" Tobi cried.

Sasuke turned his attention from Deidara who was now out of the game for a little while due to the injuries inflicted by Sasuke and Kimimaro over to the last member of the Kaguya clan.

"Who are you?"

"I am Kimimaro Kaguya, formerly a member of the Sound Five."

"Kimimaro…aren't you supposed to be dead?" Sasuke asked as he kept a neutral expression on his face.

"I was dead, but Kikoshi has restored me to the world of the living with the new Life Restoration jutsu he developed."

"Kikoshi…Orochimaru's old errand boy?"

"Hunter-nin would be the more proper term, but yes…the same person. His life restoration jutsu is completely different from Edo Tensei Reanimation where it restores life completely by utilizing a form of tensei jutsu, a life-transfer technique deployed by a master puppeteer who lived in the land of wind. Its exact mechanics are complex, but I doubt you are interested in knowing them."

"No, but I do want to know what exactly are you doing here Kimimaro?" Sasuke replied coldly.

"My purpose is to deal with the Akatsuki members with the aid of our friends from Kirigakure while you face Kikoshi…one on one."

"I see…your job really is to ensure no one will interfere with the fight? Where is Kikoshi then?" Sasuke asked.

Suddenly the Uchiha jumped to the side to avoid a chidori blade from above. If Sasuke hadn't noticed it he would have been stabbed in the back. The young shinobi turned his head and looked up to see Kikoshi hovering overhead. "Your reflexes aren't too bad…I like those who live up to my expectations."

"Kikoshi…didn't know you have the same curse mark I do."

"There is a lot about me that you don't know about Sasuke…did you think you were second Orochimaru's pupil since his student Anko Mitarashi. In truth Sasuke you are his third student…I was his second student. He was training me ever since I could walk…my body was enhanced during that time much in the same yours was…the only differences is that I have been having done since I was a small child. Despite _disagreements_ between us the man was the closest thing I had to a father."

"So its revenge you want is that it?"

"More or less, but you shall prove as a fine measuring stick to test my capacity. Get ready Sasuke to behold my true power." Kikoshi landed on the ground as his wings shrunk and fused into his back as the cruse seal receded and went dormant.

Sasuke didn't say anything else more. As soon as Kikoshi was on the ground he rushed him while he held his sword in one hand. Kikoshi blocked Sasuke's first sword with his regular sword that he had integrated with his wind charka to increase its reach and sharpness. Kikoshi regular blade sliced through Sasuke's sword and came close to taking a part of Sasuke's face off if the young man hadn't jerked his head back time.

Sasuke took one look at his broken sword before tossing it aside.

"I have mastered wind, water and lightning elements Sasuke…defeating me will not be easy I can assure you. This battle will be toughest I had in three years. The last time I fought in a battle like this was when I had to kill the Fourth Kazekage and his bodyguards."

"Stop talking and lets just fight." Sasuke snapped as he raised his chidori sword. Kikoshi blocked with his own chidori blade. Their lightning-element based charka sparked and released surges of energy as the two blades remained in contact with one another. Kikoshi smiled as he opened his mouth, a serpent stuck its head out before opening its mouth.

Sasuke knew what was about to happen so he pulled away as the blade of a sword emerged from the snake's mouth. Kikoshi lowered and turned his head trying to slash Sasuke with the blade sticking out of his mouth. Kikoshi recalled the Sword of Kusanagi back into his mouth until later before pushing his attack against Sasuke.

Both combatants were armed with chidori blades and each one was a former student of Orochimaru.

* * *

Closing in on their location: Naruto, Hinata and Yamato were expected to arrive on the scene in the next few minutes. However Hinata, Naruto and Yamato were feeling the presence of an ominous and malevolent charka up ahead.

"Hey Yamato do you feel that?"

"Yeah…looks like someone else is with Sasuke. What sinister charka."

"I'll see who it is?" Hinata said as she used her Byakugan to scout the area ahead.

"Is it Itachi?" Naruto asked.

Hinata looked ahead as she eyed the area where Sasuke was last spotted. She saw Kikoshi and Sasuke battling one another. At the moment both of them were fighting each other with manifested lightning element blades. "Its not Itachi…its someone else who can use chidori in the same way Sasuke can."

"What?" Yamato asked.

"I can't tell who he is, but he is dressed in white so I don't know if he is with Akatsuki. But he isn't a friend of Sasuke's that much I know for sure."

"Whoever it is…we better hurry. I have a bad feeling about this." Yamato commented.

"Right…we got to move it." Naruto said as he and the group hurried onward while a feeling of uneasiness arose within Hinata's mind…something about the white-clothed shinobi's charka frightened her. She couldn't explain it, but there was something _familiar_ about it.

The mysterious shinobi ahead…something about his charka caused Hinata fear, but there was something about it…something she was unable to lay her finger on. With no answers within her grasp Hinata pushed the thoughts out of her mind and move forward.

A/N: the students of Orochimaru duke it out next chapter. I will get the Hinata and Naruto fluff going as soon as possbile after the battle between Sasuke and Kikoshi. Thank you so much for your support and your reviews…keep them coming please : D


	3. Chapter 3 Byakugan vs Sharingan

Chapter 3

Byakugan vs. Sharingan

The battle raged on between Kikoshi and Sasuke as both shinobi were prepared to utilize whatever jutsu and techniques at their disposal. Kikoshi used his wind charka imbued chokuto to cut through Sasuke's chidori sword while attempting to strike Sasuke with his own chidori sword.

Despite being able to read his movements with his Sharingan, Sasuke found fighting Kikoshi difficult since neither one of them had managed to land a direct blow on the other in the few moments they have clashed with their swords and chidori blades. Taking into mind that a new approach was needed Sasuke changed tactics.

As long as Kikoshi's eyes were blindfolded none of Sasuke's genjutsu would be of any effect unless he could remove them and open Kikoshi's eyes. But that task would prove to be difficult since in the last moments since their battle began it seemed that he and Kikoshi were equal as far as fighting technique, strength and speed went.

But Sasuke assured himself that he possessed the Sharingan…it was all he needed to win against Kikoshi.

Sasuke threw a punch at Kikoshi while summoning forth a number of serpents from his arm to aid him in attacking. Kikoshi ducked to avoid the incoming punch while he brought one leg up to strike Sasuke. Being as quick as he was: Sasuke evaded Kikoshi's attempt to strike him.

Leaping backwards Sasuke preformed a quick series of hand signs while Kikoshi charged at him. Bringing one hand to his mouth Sasuke unleashed his attack on the albino shinobi as he shouted "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" A stream of fire shot out of Sasuke's mouth as it grew and took the shape of a gigantic fireball.

Kikoshi charged head on into it with a grin on his face while at the same time his body began glowing with an ominous purple charka. The fireball hit its mark as its flames engulfed Kikoshi completely and an area of the forest they were fighting in, but much to Sasuke's surprise Kikoshi emerged from the flames completely unharmed.

As he charged through the flames, Kikoshi put away his sword and launched a hand-to-hand attack on Sasuke as he landed one blow on his left shoulder by digging two of his fingers into it. Kikoshi struck Sasuke again in the side of his stomach, but Sasuke realized the danger of Kikoshi's strikes as he felt his own organs inside his own battle suffering damage as blood began to trickle out of the corner of his mouth.

_What the heck? He was forcing charka into my own body through his fingers attacking my internal organs directly. _Sasuke thought to himself as he moved away from Kikoshi after blocking his attempt to get a third blow in. Suddenly the ground suddenly became wet as the area they were in became flooded with water from the Kirigakure ANBU present in the area using Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave.

After a few moments the water rose up to their knees providing Kikoshi with the water he required for some of his water jutsu while enabling him to limit the effects of Sasuke's fire element jutsus. Kikoshi began performing a series of hand signs as he shouted "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

A large amount of water was collected and focused to form a massive spiraling blast of water that was sent at Sasuke, but as the water rushed towards Sasuke. Kikoshi was already performing the hand signs for another jutsu…a forbidden one more specially. Sasuke easily out maneuvered the water attack Kikoshi launched at him, but once he was finished evading it he saw Kikoshi had finished performing the hand signs for another jutsu.

Clapping his hands together Kikoshi said "Hiding Mist Technique!" The area was quickly covered in a thick fog bank. It was so thick no one could see a thing, not even Sasuke despite having the sharingan. "Now we'll test the abilities of your eyes." Kikoshi prepared to launch his attack against Sasuke.

"Although I can't see you through this fog, but it's the same problem for you."

Kikoshi let out a light chuckle "You are quick to judge others by their appearances and your preconceptions. That is a mistake."

"You talk too much."

Kikoshi didn't speak another word as he moved onto a near by tree branch to launch an attack on Sasuke while the young man was standing in the middle of the fog. Remembering the layout of the terrain shortly before it was blanked by the mist he walked on top of the water to a tree behind him.

At the same time Kikoshi opened his mouth and lowered his head to the branch as he began spiting up dozens of snakes at a time. They all began moving in the direction Sasuke was in while Kikoshi continued spiting up more snakes to send after the Uchiha. Once he was finished he leapt off the tree branch to move himself into a better position.

When the snakes began snapping and biting at Sasuke as they converged on him he was quick to dispatch them by using his Great Fireball technique to burn the snakes around him in one sweep, but that was when Kikoshi's attack. He was sliding across the water; his body had stretched out into a snake-like form. Like his master, Kikoshi gained the ability to extend any part of his body to near-infinite lengths.

Sasuke turned to face Kikoshi, but behind him someone else was moving towards him. Sasuke realized what he was doing so he decked the first Kikoshi and turned with his hand extended to attack the second Kikoshi. Just as Sasuke suspected the first Kikoshi that was coming at him was a clone composed of snakes that he had summoned forth from his mouth just as Orochimaru had done during his battle against Naruto in Four-Tail demon fox state.

Sure enough the second Kikoshi approaching Sasuke now was the real one. Sasuke grabbed hold of the blindfold on Kikoshi's face. Ripping the blindfold off Sasuke opened his sharingan eyes wide to cast a paralyzing genjutsu on Kikoshi. The mist suddenly began to dissipate around them.

"I got you now!"

Kikoshi smiled as his reptilian eyes coldly looked into Sasuke's, but much to Sasuke's surprise as Kikoshi suddenly poked him in the eyes with his fingers. The albino shinobi then decked Sasuke in the face, but Sasuke grabbed the young man's face and dug his fingers into it at the same time.

The albino shinobi kicked Sasuke in the side of his stomach which sent him flying a few feet to the right. Slamming into the side of the tree a few feet away, Sasuke picked himself up while he looked in his hand to discover that he was holding something. Upon closer inspecting…Sasuke realized it was a face…the face of another person Kikoshi was wearing to hide his real one.

His real face was virtually the same as the face he was wearing moments ago, but the eyes were different. Instead of reptilian eyes Sasuke saw pale lavender eyes, there was only one other time he had seen eyes like those…was when he was still living in Konoha. The eyes Kikoshi had were no doubt the same eyes carried by members of the Hyuga Clan…the Byakugan.

"I see…I understand now. You were able to find me in that fog with your Byakugan and those strikes on my body…you were sealing my charka points while inflicting damage on my own internal organs. That is also why my genjutsu didn't effect you…genjutsu is ineffective against a Byakugan user."

"So my secret is finally out, but it doesn't matter…you should be feeling the effects of the poison."

"What?" Sasuke said as he felt a stinging pain coming from his waist where Kikoshi had kicked him. He saw there was a wound on the side of his waist caused by a small blade about two inches long. Sasuke looked upon Kikoshi's foot and saw that on that foot that had stuck him there was a two-inch blade sticking out of the front of the sandal under his middle toe. "A concealed blade."

"That's right…the blindfold was merely a deception on my part. You forgot one of the most important fundamentals of being a shinobi…a shinobi must see through deception." Kikoshi pointed out with a grin. "Your confidence in your kekkei genkai has made you careless…so much so that you have forgotten that one basic principle. I have been deceiving you before I even stepped in to challenge you so I could leave you thinking that I was forcing myself to fight you blindfolded to protect myself from your eye's genjutsu. I anticipated that in order for you to defeat me you would try to pull the blindfold off which left yourself wide open while you were trying to cast genjutsu on me."

Sasuke glared at Kikoshi as he tried to gather charka into his right hand.

Moving faster than Sasuke's normal eyes could track Kikoshi attacked while he shouted "Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Without his Sharingan to see Kikoshi's movements in advance, Sasuke was hit by the Hyuga Clan technique dead on. Kikoshi attacked ruthlessly as he nailed Sasuke before the final blow knocked him clear off his feet and onto the ground a few feet away.

Fortunately Sasuke managed to survive Kikoshi's attack by calling forth a few small serpents to coil around half of his arm and most of his chest in a last ditch effort to shield his charka points, but Sasuke wasn't able to shield them all…more than of them were hit by Kikoshi's Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms assault.

Worst of all the poison was bringing to take effect…it was a paralyzing poison that would render Sasuke's body immobile within a few minutes if an antidote weren't administered soon.

"You managed to defend some of your charka points…not bad, but it doesn't matter because once the poison kicks in you will be at my mercy."

"I can still fight and kill you until the poison kicks in!" An enraged Sasuke declared as he activated the full power his curse seal and transformed into his second stage form. He was going to defeat Kikoshi one way or another "Round two is just getting started."

Kikoshi grinned, "I imagine the pain of forcibly activating your curse seal in your state will be quite…well painful. Besides without your precious Sharingan you cannot win against me now…I knew once I removed that you would be an easy prey. You are nothing without those eyes, you are so dependant on them."

"As long as I draw breath I am not beaten yet." Sasuke boldly declared as he created a chidori blade from his left hand.

"You tough guy act amuses me to no end Sasuke…lets finish this." Kikoshi opened his mouth to summon the Sword of Kusanagi from the mouth of the serpent that emerged. He took the blade into his hand, as Sasuke was about to rush him before Kikoshi began infusing the sword with his wind element sharpening the blade.

But before the two could finish Kikoshi turned and raised his sword up to block a kick from another shinobi appearing almost out of nowhere. Kikoshi was pushed back although he had successfully blocked the kick with his sword. "I almost forgot about you! You are here sooner than I thought." Kikoshi commented, as the shinobi who had interrupted his battle with Sasuke was Naruto.

"You will leave my friend alone?" Naruto shouted.

"Friend" Kikoshi scoffed "Correct me if I am wrong, but he tired to kill you on two separate occasions…if that is your idea of someone being a friend then I am curious to know what your idea of an enemy is?"

"I am trying to save Sasuke…you're trying to kill him."

"Well duh…it's my job and the task given to me and I will carry it out." Kikoshi turned his head to focus back on Sasuke, but was surprised to find him gone. "Blast…the coward ran away like a scared dog with his tail between his legs." Kikoshi said with an irritated expression. "No matter…Ekitai where are you?"

Tentacles made of water shot up around Naruto and embraced him in a tight hold immobilizing the shinobi. A watery transparent humanoid shape rose up from the water behind Naruto the face of the shape assumed that of a woman with light blue eyes. "Yes Kikoshi-sama."

"Send two of our men after Sasuke…the poison should be kicking in soon; have them take the boy out and bring me his head. He'll be an easy target."

"Understood sir" Ekitai looked to her right as she called out "you two get moving!" Two fasting moving silhouettes hurried off after Sasuke.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto shouted.

"Ekitai…you deal with the boy while the rest of you deal with the Hyuga girl." Kikoshi ordered as the remaining Hidden Mist ANBU emerged from their hiding places to engage the enemies. "I'll chase after Sasuke myself."

Suddenly some tree roots spouted up from the ground around Kikoshi, but with lightning fast reflexes and two swift swings of the Kusanagi sword he was armed with the albino shinobi cut them apart. Yamato appeared as he was ready to battle with Kikoshi with a kunai in his hand.

"Ah the ANBU agent called Yamato or should I call you Tenzou?" Kikoshi commented "The man who survived Orochimaru's experiments and possesses the abilities once used by the First Hokage."

"You know me, but I don't know you." Yamato replied. "You have the Byakugan, but how did someone like you end up a Sound Shinobi?"

"I suppose since the cat is out of the bag I'll tell you…a very short summary of how. My mother wished for me not to become a part of the Hyuga Clan Branch Family so she conspired with Orochimaru to safely ensure that I could avoid that fate. The price was high, but it was worth my freedom."

"What was that price?"

"Its not important…I have Sasuke to track down and kill. Let me pass and I'll tell you later over some dumplings and soup. My treat what do you say?" Kikoshi said with a smile.

"Sorry, but our orders are to capture Sasuke or his brother on sight."

"That is unfortunate…then I am left with little choice, but to eliminate you."

As Yamato rushed in to attack, Kimimaro stepped in-between the two shinobi and tried to cut off the ANBU agent's arm with a bone spike sticking out of his palm. "Kikoshi-sama I'll deal with this one you should continue your pursuit of Sasuke."

"What happened to the two Akatsuki members you was chasing?"

"I lost track of them…they managed to get away. Forgive me."

"It's alright Kimimaro: just take care of him and I'll deal with Sasuke. That boy is our first priority…we can deal with Akatsuki later." Kikoshi tried to hurry after Sasuke, but a cloud of smoke appeared in front of Kikoshi before he had a chance to join the pursuit. As the smoke cleared another shinobi was seen stand in the albino shinobi's path.

"Sorry, but you have to go through me." Kakashi said as he appeared in Kikoshi's path with Pakkun on his shoulder.

"Will these interruptions ever end?"

"Is that a trick question?" Kakashi mused.

With his sword still in hand, Kikoshi and Kakashi began to do battle while at the same time the rest of the search party with them were fanning out to locate other enemy shinobi in the area and Sasuke's trail.

* * *

As the Konoha Shinobi fought against Kikoshi, Kimimaro, Ekitai and the Hidden Mist ANBU: Sasuke was flying high above the forest trying to put some distance between himself and Kikoshi.

He didn't like running away, but Sasuke had no choice. Even if he had won against Kikoshi before the paralyzing poison inside his body kicked in he would have been easy prey for Naruto and the other Konoha shinobi with him afterwards. It was a lose-lose situation for Sasuke, but he promised that he would finish his battle with Kikoshi in due time.

Speaking of poison, Sasuke felt his body grow numb. Realizing his body would be immobile Sasuke flew down to the trees below and managed to land on a strong tree branch where he could rest and hopefully avoid being found until the poison wears off…of course that was if the poison wasn't lethal. There were also the internal injuries Kikoshi had inflicted…although not life threatening at the moment, but Sasuke required medical attention otherwise the damage may become irreversible if not properly treated soon.

Resting face first on top of the tree branch, Sasuke's curse mark into a dormant state as he returned to normal. Now immobile Sasuke focused on regaining his strength, but thought to himself that if only he could have remained airborne for at least two more minutes he could have reached the town his comrades Karin and Suigetsu were searching.

Minutes passed as Sasuke tried to fight back the poison, but the curse mark had sapped him of his remaining strength. The young man was barely able to remain conscious due to his lack of strength. As his mind went adrift Sasuke suddenly felt a radiant energy wash over him…as if someone was trying to heal him using medial jutsu. He remembered the feeling healing jutsus since Kabuto had used such on him during his training with Orochimaru to keep fatigue at bay allowing him to train longer.

"Who?" Sasuke mumbled as he tried to turn his head to see who was healing him, but his body was paralyzed.

"Sakura this a bad idea we should wait for Kakashi and the others." A voice said.

_Sakura? _Sasuke's mind thought as he remembered the young kunoichi.

"It can't wait…Sasuke has a number of internal injuries and he has been poisoned. If we wait then Sasuke's internal injuries will be too far for me to heal and he'll die from internal bleeding. As for the poison it seems it was only designed to paralyze him for several hours so he is in no danger of dying from that."

"Well I suppose if he'll be paralyzed for several hours it will be ok. I'll go on ahead and alert the others. You stay with Sakura and call if there is trouble."

"Right" One of Kakashi's ninja dogs in the company of Sakura leapt off the tree branch and ran deep into the forest while the smallest of the two ninja dogs stayed with Sakura. Using her healing techniques she went to work trying to heal Sasuke's wounds before they could become life threatening.

Minutes passed as the deep cut on Sasuke's side marking the place where Kikoshi had stabbed him with his concealed blade he had within his sandal was beginning to close. Sakura was busy at work healing the wound before she intended to move on to healing the rest of Sasuke's body to prevent any more blood loss.

Unknown to the pink haired kunoichi a pair of eyes were watching her from a near by tree. Although Sakura was unaware of the fact that she was being watched, the ninja dog with her smelled danger in the air and began growling in the direction where the glazes of near observers were.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"We're not alone someone is watching us."

Suddenly someone leapt out from the shadows towards the young kunoichi and her canine bodyguard.

A/N: you know…I had the battle between Sasuke and Kikoshi planned out in my head extermly well, but despite that I am not sure if I did a good job putting it on paper. That is always the tough part…getting your ideas for any chapter of a story on paper. LOL. I had thought about having Sasuke lose, but I thought it wasn't a good idea so I worked towards ending it in a draw. Anyway I know Deidara's C4 isn't like what was posted in this story compared to what it was in the manga, but I'll adapt it into the story later on as C5 or an improved version. Sorry if this chapter came two days late, but its here and thank you all for your support and reviews. I am also on the look out for a beta-reader to help out with the story too.


	4. Chapter 4 Politics

Chapter 4

Politics

Sakura turned and saw a pair of Hidden Mist ANBU agents coming straight at her; one of them shouted, "Move away from the fugitive!"

"No he is injured he needs treatment."

"Stupid girl we're under orders from the Second Otokage of Otogakure to eliminate Sasuke Uchiha for the crime of murdering the First Otokage. Even your country has given us permission to execute him for deserting Konoha. Your country's daimyo and the Konoha shinobi council wish for his death."

"What?" A surprised Sakura blurted out, but three figures appeared out of nowhere to block the advancing ANBU agents. One was a young man who seemed to be Sasuke's age wielding a large zanbato in his hands with white hair wearing a black cloak. The second figure standing with the sword-wielder was a tall man with orange hair wearing the same cloak, but he had black botches covering one side of his face.

Last person was a young woman with red hair and red eyes who leapt onto the same tree branch as Sasuke and Sakura. She held a kunai to the healer's neck as she placed one hand on Sasuke's chest.

"What did you do to Sasuke you bitch?" Karin said darkly.

"Karin you dumbass she didn't do anything to him. If you want him to live you'll let her finish healing him." The white haired young man named Suigetsu said.

"Fine" Karin said as she pulled the kunai away.

Suigetsu attacked first swinging his Guillotine sword at one of the ANBU agents while Juugo joined in as his right arm transformed into a large fist with a blade on the side. One of the ANBU agents drew a smoke bomb from his equipment belt and threw it at the group as they continued their charge.

* * *

Meanwhile at that moment elsewhere: Naruto was fighting against Ekitai who was creating multiple water tentacles around the blonde haired shinobi in an attempt to capture him. Luckily Naruto was quick on his feet, at least quick enough to escape Ekitai's attempts to capture him.

This left the young man with a bit of a problem…Ekitai was currently transformed as a watery based entity moving about in the water under Naruto's feet. As long as the woman stayed in a water-based form Naruto had no means to attack her. Even if he did he had no idea where her actual body was located…she could be anywhere.

"Come out and fight!" Naruto shouted.

"Sorry, but no…after all I am having fun."

"You coward!" Naruto shouted as he created a pair of shadow clones to help him battle the enemy ninja.

* * *

At the same time: Kakashi held a kunai in his right hand as he used it parry Kikoshi's Sword of Kusanagi as the young man attempted to cleave one of the veteran shinobi's limbs off. Even with his sharingan eye reading Kikoshi's movements allowing Kakashi to predict all of Kikoshi's moves successfully to parry and evade them.

However Kikoshi's byakugan eyes appeared to possess an incredible clarity of perception similar to the sharingan. Kikoshi's perception is great enough for him to read and predict all of Kakashi's movements allowing him to evade and parry the copy ninja's attacks.

After moving behind Kakashi, Kikoshi began performing hand signs for a jutsu. The copy ninja turned around just in time to see Kikoshi finish performing hand signs as he shouted "Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique!" The water around Kikoshi gathered as Kakashi quickly began performing hand signs to counter Kikoshi's jutsu. Knowing he didn't have enough time to use the same jutsu Kikoshi is using he decided to another jutsu that should work just as well.

"Water Release: Water Shark Missile Technique!" A missile composed out of water in the shape of a shark shot up out of the water in front of Kakashi heading straight for Kikoshi's attack. As the dragon and shark collided a large explosion of water blanketed the area.

In the mists of the collision of jutsus the two combatants were already prepared with a counter attack. Kakashi was rushing Kikoshi using his signature chidori otherwise known as lightning blade, but instead of one hand he had both hands pulsing with lightning element charka.

Kikoshi on the other hand decided to match Kakashi by using two lightning blades himself, one for each hand. Both hands struck the other thus Kikoshi and Kakashi attacks had canceled their opponent's out. Having successfully matched one another, both shinobi stopped realizing both shinobi were at a stalemate.

"Not bad for a kid?" Kakashi commented as he leapt back to devise a better way to fight the byakugan user.

"You are as skilled as I have heard Kakashi-sama. I like an opponent who lives up to my expectations."

"I appreciate the comment."

"But even with your sharingan you can't hope to trap me in genjutsu or see through my movements to beat me. Although I'll admit we're pretty even as far clarity of perception goes, but unlike the sharingan I can not only see the charka coil system within a person's body. My eyes allow me to see the contraction and movement of muscles…by reading those alone I can predict my foe's next moves well in advance." Kikoshi explained.

"Not bad…this puts us at in a bit of a stalemate."

"True…although I have a number of jutsu and techniques I can use against you, but I'll use techniques you cannot copy."

Suddenly a number of tree roots burst up from the ground around Kakashi as they tried to grab him. The copy ninja acted fast as he leapt out of there and moved away from Kikoshi wondering if it was Yamato attempting to use his Mokuton abilities to ensnare the young Hyuga, but missed.

Before Kakashi had a chance to think about it any further a large fireball was coming at him from above. A giant snake appeared on the scene with three figures standing on its head, the middle person a young woman. Kikoshi looked up and smiled as he said.

"I was wondering when you were going to show Sakiko?"

"Sorry I am late…Haku took his sweet time telling me you had found the Uchiha brat."

"I see…well you are actually on time to join the rest of our little party." Kikoshi commented with a smile as he rushed towards Kakashi intent on continuing his battle with him. Meanwhile the young woman standing on top of the snake leapt down to join the battle herself landing on the ground several feet away from Kakashi and Kikoshi.

The young woman had a curvaceous figure, seventeen years of age, with alabaster skin and long magenta (with shades of pink) colored hair was seen on top of the snake's head. Her hair was tied into a long loose ponytail in a stylish up-do. The ponytail itself reached down pass the base of her spine. She was wearing a pair of black sunglasses that hid her eyes; she was also wearing pink lipstick.

Her attire consisted of her wearing a form fitting custom suit of thin metal mesh (similar to the same form fitting metal mesh suit worn by Anko and a young Tsunade). Over that the young woman wore a black combat robe (the same type Temari wore when he saved Shikamaru from Tayuya) lined with purple with two snakes outlined in pink on the lower half of her robe. She wore a matching skirt with two inch-long slits on the side.

This young woman wore the same robe-like sash Orochimaru around her waist, but she wore a purple color sash under the robe belt she wore to help keep her robe from opening. For footwear she was wearing a pair of black shinobi sandals. The young woman was wearing a Sound Village Headband while she wore long open black finger gloves that covered her arm just an inch pass her elbow. Like Kikoshi she too wore armguards on her arms as well.

"Your friend I take it?"

"She is the sister of the Second Otokage."

"I see?" Kakashi commented as he turned one eye onto the woman. That was when he noticed two figures standing behind her, needless to say Kakashi was surprised when he instantly recognized them to be Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane…the village elders. "Homura-sama and Koharu-sama…what are you two doing with Sound Shinobi?"

"Kakashi you and your team are to stop fighting now!" Homura demanded.

"These Hidden Mist ANBU and their Sound Shinobi allies are working with Konoha to eliminate Sasuke Uchiha."

"With all due respect Homura-sama, but the Hokage gave us orders to find and capture him?" Kakashi countered.

"That has changed…she was overruled by us and the daimyo of the fire country. The Village Hidden in the Mist and Sound has offered their assistance in this matter."

"So…you guys want Sasuke killed?" Naruto asked as everyone halted and stopped attacking one another. Near him Ekitai was assuming her human appearance, which was that of a middle-aged attractive young woman wearing customized shinobi uniform.

She wore a tight-fitting body glove that left her neck and shoulders exposed. The suit itself seemed styled after the wet suits worn by shinobi from the village of Amegakure in the Land of Rain, the suit even had the same color scheme. She wore her headband protector that had the Kirigakure emblem on it around her neck.

She had long blue hair, but it was tied into a bun with two senbon needles holding her hair in place. She had gorgeous blue eyes and an alluring smile that combined with her lovely body could fool any man into lowering his guard. She wore long black gloves and standard footwear of shinobi from her village. Tied on both tights were a shuriken holster with kunai and instead of shurikens there were senbon needles.

"He has betrayed Konoha and now possess a threat to our country. As a traitor he has to be dealt as one." Koharu answered.

"You can't be serious!" Naruto shouted.

"We are Naruto, but for now the battle is over." Koharu said firmly. "Kikoshi do you know where Sasuke has gone?"

"I have lost track of him…he has traveled far out of my range." Kikoshi replied sadly as his Kusanagi sword transformed into a snake and slithered into the sleeve of his robe. "Maybe that group of ANBU I had sent may have had better luck."

"Forgive me Lord Kikoshi, but we have lost contact with them." A Hidden Mist ANBU noted as he tried using his wireless radio attempting to contact his comrades.

"What?"

"The rest of our men are spreading out, looking for him right now, but they had found nothing yet."

"Damn…well it seems thanks to their interference we have lost the target." Kikoshi said scornfully as he glared at Naruto and his friends. "We'll continue to Konoha as planned to rendezvous with the Second Otokage…we need to be with him in Konoha should any attempt on his life be made." Kikoshi said as he cast another glance at the Konoha shinobi.

"What about Sasuke are we abandoning the task of tracking him down and killing him?" Sakiko asked.

"No, but without a trail to follow it pointless to continue until we can pick up his trail again. From the sound of things it's most likely that we can assume that the ANBU I sent after Sasuke must have met some unfortunate fate. Someone must have intervened and saved his hide after the poison I gave him paralyzed him."

"Hey Kakashi-sensei where is Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"She should have been here by now?" Kakashi answered when at that very moment the ninja dog that had been in Sakura's company arrived hurrying over to Kakashi.

"Kakashi…Sakura found Sasuke." The ninja dog said after it stopped to catch its breath.

"Where is she?"

"Northwest of here…he was lying on a branch of a tree near the outskirts of a town. He was seriously injured, but he was paralyzed by some kind of poison so Sakura is focusing on only treating the wounds that are life threatening. Capturing him will be an easy task for us."

"Good, but capturing him isn't our goal!" Kikoshi said with a smile as he and the rest of the Hidden Mist ANBU scrambled as they hurried after Sasuke.

"Damn it!" Naruto shouted as he was about to go after them, but a number of roots burst up from the ground around him seizing him.

"Oh no you don't…you have caused enough trouble as it is." Sakiko noted.

"Let me go!" Naruto shouted.

"No one would have any objections if I went with them." Kakashi offered.

"Can you kill Sasuke?" Homura asked coldly.

"Yes."

"WHAT?" Naruto shouted, but Kakashi cast a glance at him. As he did Naruto noticed Kakashi blinked at him with one eye.

"But is it possible we can take him back to the village if he is paralyzed his kekkei genkai is still of value is it not?" Kakashi asked.

Homura and Koharu considered the thought for a moment. "Currently Sasuke's death has been ordered by the daimyo, but I suppose if you can convince Kikoshi to hold his hand. You can bring him back to the village provided he is still paralyzed when you find him." Koharu answered.

"Thank you" Kakashi turned back to Naruto. "I'll do what I can Naruto."

"Please sensei…do what you can…just don't let them kill Sasuke." Naruto asked as he began silently praying in his mind to any god who may be listening. Kakashi hurried off after Kikoshi and his group towards where Sasuke was currently at with the hopes of being able to save the young Uchiha's skin.

* * *

However at that moment, Suigetsu was taking point while Juugo was carrying Sasuke on his back with Sakura and Karin following close behind. The duo had managed to defeat the two Hidden Mist Black OP agents after they were hit by one of their smoke bombs. The fight wasn't easy, but thanks to the combined efforts of Juugo and Suigetsu…the two shinobi won against them.

"Damn that was a close one." Suigetsu commented as he and the rest of their group was moving west trying to put some distance behind them. "Where to?"

Karin wiped some blood off her face as she answered "If we cross the border into the Land of Lightning I know about a small hideout Orochimaru had established there about forty miles away from their shinobi village."

"But it's going to take a while to get there…isn't there a place closer?" Suigetsu asked.

"Aren't we closer to the land of waves? Maybe there is some place we can hide?" Juugo suggested.

"Hey whatever is closer I am all for." Suigetsu said as he agreed to that suggestion. Karin on the other hand turned and cast a glare on Sakura before asking.

"We should get rid of her first."

"Oh no…we need her to help heal Sasuke. She said there was still more healing that had to be done right?" Suigetsu said as he cast a glance on the young woman.

"Yeah…he is fine for now, but I still need to finish tending to his other internal wounds. There is still the matter of the poison that has left Sasuke paralyzed."

"You see Karin we do need her. After all what is she going do to us? She is only a lowly medical ninja and she is also our hostage too." Suigetsu said with a smile, as they had no idea of Sakura's combat capabilities. True was she dragged along against her will, but she wanted to be close to Sasuke. If she could…at her first chance she would somehow find a way to get word of her whereabouts to Kakashi and the others.

"Not much of a hostage?" Karin scoffed.

"Well at least she is cutter than you. You plain flat-chested bitch!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?" Karin roared as her expression suggested she was ready to rip Suigetsu limb from limb at the drop of a hat.

"Could you two give it a rest? We need to hurry and find a place for Sasuke to rest." Juugo asked, as he grew tried of Suigetsu and Karin's bickering. The group continued forward heading towards the Land of Waves hopeful that they could find a safe place for Sasuke to rest and recover.

However…neither one of them were aware of the fact that there was something else affecting Sasuke.

A/N: Well I managed to get another chapter out on time this week around. Thank you for all of the reviews so far…I look forward for the ones for this chapter. Anyway I know I intended for this fic to be a Hinata and Naruto fic (Sakura and Sasuke…I am going to be doing a bit of that too on the side), but we will be getting there soon. Sorry if the battles weren't as some of you were expecting, but I will give you some "real" battles as the story unfolds.


	5. Chapter 5 A huge bounty

A/N: sorry if this took away, but I had a number of problems deciding what to do with this chapter.

Chapter 5

A huge bounty

Kakashi was hurrying through the forest towards Sasuke's location concerned with both the young Uchiha and Sakura who was tending him. Kikoshi worried him because Kakashi couldn't be sure if he would try to eliminate Sakura if he got in his way. All the more reason he had to get there fast.

Minutes passed as Kakashi raced through the forest, leaping from tree branch to tree branch moving as if his life depended on it. Finally Kakashi reached a small clearing where he found Kikoshi knelling down next to one of his ANBU agents on loan from the Village Hidden in the Mist.

Both agents who had moved against Sasuke's group were lying on the ground mortally wounded. At the base of the tree the ninja dog that had been left with Sakura was lying there unconscious, but generally unharmed.

One of the ANBU operatives with Kikoshi was trying to use medical ninjutsu to tend to their comrade's wounds. A second ANBU accompanying Kikoshi was attempting the same thing on their other fallen comrade whose wounds were worse than his partner.

Kikoshi tried to provide assistance with the man's wounds by attempting to use some healing jutsu of his own to aid the ANBU operative. Despite their combined efforts the man's wounds were too severe…a number of his organs were badly damaged and there was too much internal bleeding. A moment later the man passed away, Kikoshi showed no emotion as he placed one hand over his face and closed his eyes.

"We lost one" Kikoshi said sadly "Lets not loose two."

"Yes sir." The ANBU next to him noted as moved over to their other downed comrade to treat his wounds. Thankfully they were not as severe as his partner was, so he had a better chance of surviving than his fallen comrade did. "Sir…he'll make it, but we'll need to bring him to a safe place so he can recover."

"Excellent…you two help him while the rest of you take care of our fallen comrade." Kikoshi ordered.

"Yes sir." The ANBU replied as he and his comrade picked up their injured comrade before leaving while the others took the dead body of the other operative to take care of it. Kikoshi turned to Kakashi before he began speaking.

"From what the survivor told us…it seems they found your student healing Sasuke, but before they could converge on her and Sasuke. The young man's companions arrived and defended him against their attack. Afterwards judging by what we deduced from it seems they knocked out the dog guarding her and took your student hostage hoping to use her abilities to heal Sasuke."

"I see." Kakashi replied calmly.

"Thanks to your student's interference…not only have we lost Sasuke, but we now have a hostage situation."

"Well it may have helped if we had gotten a memo regarding your activities here in our country beforehand wouldn't you agree?"

Kikoshi chuckled "I suppose that might have helped. However the reason why you and the Hokage weren't informed was because you would have tried to oppose the decision to eliminate Sasuke."

Kakashi closed both eyes as he scratched the back of his head saying "You got me there."

"It doesn't matter…we have planned ahead for such an eventuality." Kikoshi pulled a piece of paper from his person and handed it to Kakashi. The copy ninja examined the paper as he was shocked at what he was looking at. On the paper it had a face shot of Sasuke with the words _WANTED_ printed above his picture while below it read _Sasuke Uchiha wanted for the murder of First Otokage of the Village Hidden in the Sound. Reward Dead or Alive: 100,000,000 ryo…100,000,000 Extra for dead. _

"That is one heck of bounty?"

"Yes…anyone desperate and crazy enough for the reward money will be going after Sasuke…we have posted this bounty worldwide. Sasuke will not be safe anywhere." Kikoshi pointed out with a grin.

"Question is can they do it?"

"Highly unlikely, but our spies are out there looking for any information regarding Uchiha. If anyone attacks him we'll know about it…from there we'll know where to pounce."

"I see so the bounty is only meant to smoke out Sasuke. Into the open so you can find him."

"Right" Kikoshi replied darkly.

* * *

Meanwhile around the same time in Konoha…a group of Hidden Sound Shinobi accompanied by another group consisting of Hidden Mist Shinobi was approaching the main gate into the village hidden in the leaves. In each group…four shinobi were guarding a horse drawn carriage. The carriage's design suggested that whoever was inside was a person of notable nobility. The shinobi posted at the gate noticed the entourage of shinobi approaching.

"Excuse me…what business do Sound and Mist shinobi have in Konoha." The carriages stopped, but one of the doors on them opened as a man wearing the distinguishing robes of a shinobi village leader of the Village Hidden in the Mist stepped out. He approached the shinobi as he handed them a scroll as he said.

"Your village elders are expecting us…I am the new Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure. With us is the newly appointed Second Otokage of Otogakure. We have come to sign a treaty of Alliance with your village here is the papers providing that our presence in your country has been permitted by your feudal lord."

The shinobi took the scroll to begin inspecting it, a few moments later the shinobi were finished as they confirmed that the scroll was a legitimate legal document. The second shinobi leader emerged from her carriage as she walked over to join her fellow kage level counterpart.

Unlike the other shinobi leaders whose robes were white, the robes of the Second Otokage were black and purple. Her voice was the indication that she was female. But side from that her eyes remained hidden from view due to the traditional kage-leader hat she wore which carried the emblem of the Sound Village upon it. The rest of her face was concealed thanks to a shinobi facemask she wore.

"I trust everything is in order?" The woman shinobi asked.

"Well, but we haven't heard anything about your arrival?" The shinobi gate guard answered.

"Forgive us if we came before you were informed."

Since everything was legitimate the two-shinobi guards allowed entry the entourage entry into Konoha provided of course they didn't cause any trouble. As the entourage entered the city one of the shinobi hurried to alert the Hokage of their arrival with the documents the shinobi leaders gave him in hand.

* * *

A short time later at her office, Tsunade was behind her desk _hard_ at work as usual with her apprentice Shizune present. The young woman was looking down at her sensei as she was trying to wake the female shinobi from her afternoon nap to take care of the documents he had brought for her sensei to take care of earlier the same morning.

"Tsunade-sama: please wake up...the forms I brought you this morning need to be done."

Tsunade opened only eye lazy as she mumbled, "Let me sleep."

"You can't…as Hokage you need to be working."

"I am working" Tsunade replied, slightly annoyed by Shizune's attempts to wake her "I am working on getting in more sleep time."

"Tsunade-sama we go through this every other day."

Suddenly the shinobi from the village main gate arrived. "Hokage-sama!" He shouted which woke Tsunade up right away as she turned towards the chunin ranked shinobi.

"What is it?"

"You are not going to believe this, but the leaders of the Sound Village and the Mist Village have just entered Konoha. Apparently they have permission to be here." The shinobi said as he handed Shizune the documents the Mizukage gave him. Looking them over Tsunade was left just as surprised as the shinobi who greeted the group were.

"Where are they now?" Tsunade demanded.

"They are on their way here to see you."

"I see…when they arrive allow only the leaders themselves in my office."

"Understood" With that the shinobi left while a concerned Shizune asked.

"Are you sure this is wise?"

"Well this is an official document so I can't say no to their entry; however I am curious to know why the lord of the land of fire has allowed the leaders of these shinobi villages to enter Konoha."

"Then you are going to meet with them?"

"Of course."

* * *

Minutes later the two leaders of the shinobi villages were led into Tsunade's office. The Mizukage was the first to offer a greeting while the Second Otokage remained quiet. "It's a pleasure to meet you Fifth Hokage. I am the newly appointed Fourth Mizukage of the Village Hidden in the Mist."

"What happened to the Third Mizukage?"

"He was…removed from power recently."

"So you launched a successful coup and took over?" Tsunade pointed out.

The Mizukage chuckled "That could be one way of putting it."

Tsunade turned an eye towards the Second Otokage. "What about you? I know you came to power following Orochimaru's death."

"Well I only succeeded Orochimaru since I was among those who helped him found Otogakure and then appointed chief of Otogakure's Medical Nin corps. Although I must admit that I am a little surprised that you became Hokage. I was under the impression you despised the role especially after Dan died. I am right…Tsunade-sensei?"

Tsunade was surprised by the statement…it seemed this female shinobi knew her. Suddenly a memory was aroused within her, one with a young woman wearing the white high collar robe belonging to those of the Konoha Shinobi Medical Corps. The woman was around the same age as Tsunade was with long black hair, a fair complexion, and wavy figure.

The woman chuckled as she asked "You don't remember me do you? I once served under you while you lead the field and research division of the Konoha Medical Corps. You were quite the leader and instructor."

The memory hit Tsunade as she remembered who the woman really was. "Maya…Hyuga?"

The woman removed her hat and held onto it with her left hand while she used her other hand to pull down the face mask revealing herself to the Hokage. It was the same woman as Tsunade remembered, Maya Hyuga a member of the Branch Family of the Hyuga Clan who served in Konoha's Medical Ninja Corps as a field medic and medical researcher.

She also served as one of two private physicians for the entire Hyuga Clan. The chief and primary physician was killed during an enemy raid on Konoha leaving Maya to fill in the position and assume all of his responsibilities. Her status as a Branch Family member worked as a means for the main family to ensure that their medical history and data would remain confidential. Thanks to the curse seal she had that the Main Branch could use to kill her if they discovered her breaking her confidentiality as the clan physician.

Tsunade recalled having taken this young woman her wing from time to time and even worked with her developing new medical techniques. She was among those aside from Dan who supported her idea of having a trained medical ninja in squads deployed for long term missions into enemy territory.

"It's been a long time Tsunade-sensei." Maya said with a warm smile.

"But I thought you died in that fire."

"I faked my death to escape the Hyuga Clan. It wouldn't have been possible for me without Orochimaru's help."

"But" Tsunade looked at Maya's exposed forehead; she was shocked that her curse seal applied onto her head by the main family when she was young was no longer there. "You're curse seal is gone."

Maya placed one hand on her head while she was smiled before answering "Yes…I managed to free myself as well from that horrible curse mark. It wasn't easy, but I did it."

"Aren't you worried the Hyuga Clan might retaliate against you for leaving?" Tsunade asked.

"Not really…besides I have diplomatic immunity right now. If they attack me they'll risk open war with our allies. Especially with Konoha in a weakened state…I am certain Konoha will not allow such an incident to happen now will they?" Maya answered darkly.

"Of course not." Tsunade admitted.

"Aside from our political business here I was hoping to visit you my old friend and another relative of mines."

"You mean?" Tsunade began asking, but she already knew who she meant since her husband died more than twelve years ago.

* * *

Meanwhile far away in an industrial city inside a tower with pipes attached to it and the statue of several creatures decorated it the leader of Akatsuki was seated on top of usual his perch…on the head of a large statue with pipes hooked up to it. His eyes were closed as he was busy communicating with the rest of his subordinates and performing the sealing jutsu.

* * *

In a cave somewhere in the world the leader's shadowy visage was seen atop of one of the ten fingers of the sealed restrained humanoid shaped statue used by the organization to seal away each of the tailed demons they capture utilizing the Sealing Technique: Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals to lock them away within the statue.

On the other statue's fingers the remaining Akatsuki members were present currently sealing the four-tailed demon into the statue. Suddenly on the right index finger Deidara appeared with Tobi appearing next on the statue's left thumb. The leader took notice of their arrival.

"Deidara…Tobi were you two successful in defeating Sasuke or did you manage to capture the nine tail?"

"No…we went after Sasuke, but someone interfered."

"Was it Konoha's shinobi?"

"No…Orochimaru's men I think. One of them was a guy who could use his own bones as weapons, but the one who went after Sasuke was a guy in white."

"Kimimaro Kaguya…the last of the Kaguya Clan, strange I saw that young man die in the middle of a battle with Gaara of the Desert." Zetsu's white side commented. "However it seemed the young man was somehow restored to life. I was observing everything that had transpired between you and the Uchiha. Sasuke would have been killed, but the nine tails and the Konoha shinobi interfered allowing him to escape."

"Hah so your little brother was almost done in? Do you know who it was?" Kisame Hoshigaki asked while Itachi Uchiha remained silent.

"Yes…I believe it is someone both you and Itachi are familiar with" the white side of Zetsu said "Kikoshi Hyuga."

"Had he been successful I might have gotten a taste of Uchiha blood." The black side added.

"Kikoshi huh…the little guy is still tough."

"As I recall" The leader began "Itachi fought him over three years ago."

"Yeah…I tried to face him down, but that little kid was no push over I can assure you. If Itachi didn't step in wishing to fight him one on one he _may_ have beaten me."

"How did the fight between this Kikoshi and Itachi go?" Deidara asked. "He lost outright because of his genjutsu didn't he?"

Kisame let out a light chuckle "Actually that what made their battle interesting…Itachi's genjutsu failed to work on him. But let me tell you that was one heck of a fight. Had with known before hand how great their fight was going to be maybe we could have sold tickets." Kisame mused.

"Wow, but who won?" Tobi asked.

"Itachi won of course, but the fight left him with three broken ribs, a number of cuts and burses all over. I think you suffered some minor internal damage too…right Itachi-san?"

Itachi was silent for a moment until he spoke "Kikoshi's ability to avoid being trapped in my genjutsu was quite a remarkable feat even my Tsukuyomi failed to work on him because his byakugan has been trained to the point where he…like me is virtually immune to genjutsu."

"So you're fancy eye tricks didn't work. So how did you manage to beat him?"

"The old fashion way." Itachi replied coldly.

"Then how is he still alive?" Deidara asked.

"I spared him."

"You what? After the injuries he inflicted upon you?"

"We're alike…I gave him some words of advice and _encouragement_ before letting him go."

"I see" The leader replied "Actually with him hunting Sasuke and his companions it works in our favor. Zetsu if any information regarding Sasuke's whereabouts comes to your attention…see to it that it lands in Kikoshi's lap. We'll assign the task of assassinating Sasuke to the young man."

"Yes sir." The dark side of Zetsu replied.

"Continue with the sealing…we need to complete it as soon as possible. Tobi and Deidara I want you two to move to a safer location until further notice. Once you are there help us with the sealing."

Without another word Deidara and Tobi's images disappeared.

"Itachi why did you really spare the boy?"

"If Sasuke fails to attain the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan and falls to me in battle. Kikoshi will the one I will face…I am hopeful Kikoshi and Sasuke will face one another again."

"So you're saying…whoever wins between Sasuke and Kikoshi…earns the right to face you." Kisame said.

"For Sasuke…if he will not fulfill the requirement of acquiring the Mangekyo Sharingan before facing me then he'll have to go through Kikoshi instead before he can challenge me. Unlike Sasuke though he has proper amount of hate and malice within him…the Hyuga Clan will suffer the same fate as the Uchiha Clan my Mangekyo Sharingan has revealed that to me."

"The destruction of one of Konoha's most formidable clans would be favorable for us in the long run once we have captured all nine tailed beasts. When the time comes to established our village the loss of both the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan will weaken Konoha further." The leader noted as the prospect of the Hyuga Clan being wiped out was appealing.

"Sasuke being hunted by the one shinobi who has actually wounded you in a fight. If Kikoshi finds him…I wonder if your brother will survive a rematch?"

"Well Kisame if Sasuke isn't strong enough then he deserves to die." Itachi answered darkly.

A/N: Well another chapter finally done. Sorry it took so long, but it was because this chapter was tougher to do. Anyway once everyone gets back to Konoha more on the conspiracy will be revealed and Maya's relative will be made known. Note to help provide an easy ID on Maya's facial appearance look at the anime shot of the Hyuga Clan branch familiy...the woman standing directly behind a young Neji is Maya (more to the point her hair style and face seemed ideal. lol)


	6. Chapter 6 Family History

Chapter 6

Family History

The was sun was beginning to set as a small junk was sailing away from a small port town on the eastern shoreline heading south east, Sasuke was lying on a small bed in a slightly cramping cabin. Sasuke was sound asleep with Sakura kneeling next to him tending to the rest of his wounds. Near by was Karin while Suigetsu stood just outside the doorway. Juugo on the other hand was on deck since he was too tall to walk below deck.

"What kind of opponent did Sasuke face to suffer this much internal damage?" Sakura asked.

"I have no idea unless those Akatsuki guys he faced were tougher than Orochimaru." Suigetsu answered.

"I can't believe Sasuke is showing this much weakness. He is the one who defeated Orochimaru." Karin commented as Sakura shot her a glare.

"You shut the hell up you tramp! Who asked you for your opinion?"

"How dare you…you flat-chested bitch!" Karin roared as both women looked ready to begin exchanging fists.

_Sweet I get a front role seat to a catfight? _Suigetsu thought as he watched the anger between both women rise. Suddenly someone placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder thereby preventing any further aggression from taking place. Sasuke was awake and he was looking straight at Sakura.

"Sakura what on earth are you doing here?"

"Sasuke you're awake?"

"You know this girl?" both Suigetsu and Karin asked in unison.

"Yes…she was once a member of the three man team. She is annoying." Sasuke answered as Sakura suddenly became depressed while Karin was snickering behind Sakura's back. Hearing the sound of Karin's snickering, Sakura turned around and gave the female shinobi a death glare.

"Guess Sasuke doesn't like you. I am his favorite." Karin said boldly, which earned her a sucker punch from Sakura.

Her punch carried the force of a ship's cannon and sent Karin flying off her feet and crashing head first into the wall right outside of the cabin's door. She went through the wall and landed on the ground in the next cabin across from them lying in a small pile of broken bits of wood.

Had Sakura hit Karin with her full strength she would have gone through the hull, but that would have resulted in the ship being sunk. Suigetsu poked his head through the hole to check on Karin and saw that Sakura had broken her nose and left a large burse on the center of her face with a bleeding nose.

Suigetsu placed one hand on Sakura shoulder as he smiled at the young woman while saying "You're my new best friend."

Sakura looked at the paled skin man with a confused look.

"Sakura that was uncalled for…and for your reference Karin isn't my favorite. You're attempts to win my affection are not only annoying, but its getting old. I hate suck-ups."

"Ouch that's cold." Suigetsu said as he listened to the conversation as Sakura was saddened more than she was when Karin mocked her.

Sasuke looked down at himself and saw that a number of his injuries have been healed. "However your skills with healing jutsu have saved my life so I am grateful for your assistance. Thank you."

Sakura didn't reply, as she remained silent.

"You're too cold Sasuke. I think you have hurt her pretty bad." Suigetsu pointed out.

"It's true Suigetsu. You see when I was back in Konoha every woman close to my age wouldn't stop trying to suck up to me. Their persistence was irritating beyond belief. It came to an end when I left…an added bonus when I left Konoha."

"Geez…sounds like the women were literally throwing themselves at your feet."

"Their attempts were pathetic."

Suigetsu noticed Sakura was feeling more down, since she had so kindly broke Karin's nose he thought it would be fair to repay her by changing the subject. "Anyway what happened? Did those Akatsuki overpower you or something?"

Sasuke straightened himself as he answered, "No…it was someone else. Kimimaro arrived and chased them off"

"Kimimaro…you mean Kimimaro Kaguya is alive? I thought he died?" The former Seven Swordsman of the Mist student exclaimed.

"That is what I thought, but it seems he was brought back from the dead. However the one I faced was Kikoshi."

"Kikoshi…Orochimaru's former student?"

"You knew about his status as Orochimaru's student?"

"Yeah…everyone in his organization knew about the guy, but aside from that there was a shroud of mystery around him. No one knew where he came from or what his history was…just his mother and Orochimaru were the only people who knew any facts about the kid."

"Did you know he has the Byakugan?" Sasuke threw in.

"What?" Judging by the surprised look on Suigetsu, Sasuke assumed that he apparently didn't. "So he has a Kekkei Genkai."

"Yes I wasn't aware of it until I removed the face mask he was wearing to hide it."

"That explains the internal injuries you were suffering from. If he had put anymore charka into a strike he could have caused all of Sasuke's internal organs to explode." Sakura pointed out.

"Dang well that explains how he killed the Fourth Kazekage without leaving a scratch on him." Suigetsu noted. "I'll bet his insides were a real mess when they opened him up."

"Suigetsu what else do you know about Kikoshi?" Sasuke asked.

"What you mean Orochimaru didn't tell you anything about him?"

"Barely anything."

"All I really know is that he was formerly Orochimaru's student before you came along. But it seems some bad blood was brewing between them right before you went to him. He was a maverick among our ranks…no one but Orochimaru could keep him in line, but shortly before you came he surpassed Orochimaru thereby no one in the organization could control him. It started happening when he returned from a mission tracking down Tsunade."

"I see…anything else?"

"Well he wasn't the only maverick in the organization…there was another shinobi who was his partner sometimes. They were one hell of a duo. Did you ever meet Sakiko?"

"Sakiko? Yes I heard of her…she is Orochimaru's daughter." Sasuke answered while Sakura was a bit surprised while she was wondering who in their right mind would conceive a child with a monster like Orochimaru. "I don't know who the mother was, but I know that she was born a short time before Orochimaru left the village."

"Yeah she is a real babe…unlike Karin she is a very attractive woman." Suigetsu pointed out with a smile.

"I suppose I liked her, only because unlike most of the women I have encountered she wasn't trying to throw herself at me." Sasuke commented.

"Well aside from good looks, she had some wicked abilities too. She was born with the First Hokage's Mokuton abilities…she is one dangerous minx. Not only does she possess the same freakish superhuman strength as this girl here has, but I hear because of her Mokuton abilities are more advance; her body has become photosynthetic…kinda like a plant allowing her to draw extra energy and nourishment from the world around her giving her longer combat endurance than anyone else in the sound village. Her skills in medical jutsu are top notch too."

"I wonder how she gained the Mokuton ability…was it given to her through genetic experiments or was her mother related to the First Hokage?" Sasuke asked himself.

"I don't know…no one knew who the mother was except for Orochimaru and Sakiko."

"I see, but before we continue this conversation I want to know where we are going?"

"We're heading over to the land of waves by boat. We weren't sure how long your injuries were going to take to heal so we agreed that it was probably best we get you out of the Land of Fire for now until you are 100 again."

"I see…that's fine for now, but once we're ready we're going back to the Land of Fire to find Itachi. When Karin regains consciousness I will listen to her report on her search for information regarding Itachi."

"Speaking of which Kakuzu's banker didn't offer much on Itachi. All I got is basic information and stuff we already know."

"What about Juugo?"

"Juugo didn't find much either except that Akatsuki has several bases in the area, each one emitting a strange and ominous charka that local wildlife are too scared to go near."

"When we return to the Land of Fire we'll have Karin use her abilities to track down these spots of charka to locate their bases. Perhaps we can find a clue to Itachi's whereabouts."

Having no interest in the conversation Sakura left the room with a look of depression on her face. Sakura made her way to the top deck where she made her way to the front of the ship to look out at the ocean.

"I take it your reunion with your friend didn't go well." A voice asked, Sakura turned and saw Juugo approaching her. "I am sorry if anything unpleasant happened?"

"Thank you, but you have nothing to apologize for…the Sasuke I remembered is dead to me."

"His mind is completely set on revenge against his brother unfortunately; anything else is non-existent in his thoughts." Juugo explained, as he felt sorry for the young woman.

"I know, but even if he succeeds in getting revenge what will be left for him. He is already more like his brother than he realizes."

Juugo was a little surprised by that remark.

"Don't think I didn't notice the large sword that guy with Sasuke was carrying. I remember it…it was Zabuza's sword wasn't it?"

"Yes…Suigetsu was a student who was training with the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist under Zabuza expected to inherit his sword since the swords belonging to the seven swordsmen are passed onto the new generation." Juugo explained.

"So Sasuke has a former Seven Swordsman lackey like Itachi does? He murdered and betrayed Orochimaru and betrayed Konoha…he isn't an avenger…he is a betrayer…just like his brother. They are very much alike now." Sakura said as tears streamed from her eyes.

Juugo had no answer to give, but instead he tried to comfort the girl the best he could. Sadly nothing he did could mend a broken heart.

* * *

Meanwhile Kikoshi, Kakashi, Naruto, Hinata and their respective groups were heading back to Konoha for now to regroup and await new information on Sasuke's whereabouts much to Naruto's chagrin. Naruto was walking next to Hinata, Yamato and Kakashi while Kikoshi and his group were further up ahead riding on a pair of giant snakes.

"Kakashi-sensei: are you sure there is nothing we can do about Sakura?"

"I am afraid there is nothing we can do for now Naruto until we can at least determine where they have gone. Depending on the length of time that had passed before we arrived they could have been already in either the Land of Rice Fields or in the Land of Lightning before we could even pick up their trail." Kakashi answered.

"So we got to wait before we can go out again?"

"I am sorry Naruto, but Sakura being taken captive by Sasuke isn't our only problem…there is the matter involving this Kikoshi character." Yamato threw in.

"That guy…aren't we suppose to be enemies of the Sound Village?"

"It seems that has changed, but I am curious why the council would go over Tsunade-sama's head to arrange this Alliance with the Sound Village and the Village Hidden in the Mist now is strange. Frankly I don't like it."

Hinata wasn't involved in their conversation, but instead she was using her byakugan to look ahead as her focus was on Kikoshi. She spotted the young shinobi sitting on top of large serpent near a few members of the Hidden Mist Black OPS. The young Hyuga heiress saw the ominous charka within the Hyuga shinobi…it was filled with malice and a frightening malevolence. A moment later Kikoshi turned his head and Hinata realized Kikoshi was looking straight at her…eyes filled with homicidal intent.

Hinata was scared by Kikoshi's glare as she shuddered with freight.

"Hinata are you alright?" Naruto asked as he noticed the scared look on the young woman's face.

"Kikoshi's charka…it's unlike anything I have seen in a person. It's full of malice and it's sinister in nature."

"Don't worry Hinata" Naruto said as placed her hand on the young woman's shoulder. "I'll protect you from that guy if he tries anything." This alone of course caused Hinata to turn red as a lobster with embarrassment written all over her face. She muttered Naruto's name before falling over fainting. "Hinata what's wrong? Why do you always faint?"

"Naruto?" Kakashi said as both he and Yamato were befuddled that Naruto has yet to catch onto Hinata's evident fondness for him.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?"

"I don't know if I should tell you, but have you wondered why Hinata is always turning red and fainting whenever you are around her?"

"Not really…I thought it was heat stroke or something?"

"Naruto…you are just like Sakura who was so focused on Sasuke that you have neglected another person who cares for you in the same way?"

"Huh…what do you mean neglected? You mean Sakura likes me?" Naruto said with a smile as everyone around him including Shino and Kiba were surprised how dense Naruto was.

"No!" Kiba said as he took Naruto by the shoulders and started shaking him. It seems he had reached the point where the blonde haired shinobi's insensible nature had finally reached its limit with the young Inuzuka. "DON'T YOU GET IT?" Kiba began shouting in Naruto's face. "HINATA LIKES YOU…HINATA LIKES YOU. SHE HAS A HUGE CRUSH ON YOU JUST LIKE YOU DO WITH SAKURA. BUT HER PROBLEM IS THAT SHE IS JUST TOO SHY TO SAY MORE THAN TWO WORDS TO YOU WITHOUT FAINTING."

Kiba's voice was so loud that any wildlife within earshot began running away. Naruto was dumbfounded and was just looking at Kiba with a blank expression.

"Its true Naruto…everyone else noticed and figured it out. You're the only one who never caught on." Shino mentioned. "But" Shino looked at Hinata's unconscious form "Hinata is so shy that she always faints when you talk to her, especially if you catch by surprise just like you did when we met you again for the first time after you came back from the village hidden in the sand. She is unable to express her feelings for you which to me is something I am shocked you haven't noticed? Everyone else has."

"You're serious…Hinata likes me?"

"Yes!" Everyone said in unison.

Naruto was at a complete loss for words, but unknown to them Kikoshi had been observing the entire exchange between the Konoha shinobi while the albino shinobi was making sure he took into account the fact that Hinata has romantic feelings for Naruto. Kikoshi was certain that information would be useful to him in the near future.

"First thing we're going to do when we get back to Konoha is to get Hinata over her fainting and hiding habit and give Hinata a confidence boost." Kiba pointed out as he placed Hinata on top of Akamaru's back. "Passing out in the middle of a mission isn't a good idea."

Kakashi nodded in agreement…they were planning on going out again with Hinata, Kiba and Shino accompanying them. If Hinata was going to be traveling in their company then she would have to get over her fainting spells at the very least. "I agree…since we are searching for Sasuke and the possibility of us running into Akatsuki members is high its better if Hinata doesn't faint in the middle of the mission."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Yamato asked.

"I am not sure…I'll think of something." Kakashi replied while Naruto was deep in thought contemplating the fact Hinata likes him. Naruto was shocked and surprised that Hinata who is perhaps the quietist girl he had ever known. Getting Hinata to be more _comfortable _in Naruto's presence to the point where she won't faint and hide behind poles and trees anymore was going to be a challenge.

A/N: well as put getting Hinata to where she will be more "comfortable" around Naruto (more specially getting her to stop fainting when she is around him) will be a challenge. At last I can begin work on Hinata and Naruto pairing in the upcoming chapter. I also like to thank those who have reviewed this story so far. I will have the next chapter up next week.


	7. Chapter 7 Forbidden Love

A/N: sorry if this chapter took awhile, but I had gotten writer's block on a few areas.

* * *

Chapter 7

Forbidden Love

The following morning as Kikoshi, Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi, Yamato, Kiba, Shino and Sai entered Konoha though its main gates. The ANBU black op agents also accompanied them into Konoha. Walking with Kikoshi was Sakiko, after they were inside Konoha… Sakiko stretched out her arms and smiled.

"If you need me I'll be hitting the casino."

"I don't know if Konoha has a casino." Kikoshi commented.

"Come on with an old hag with a compulsive gambling addiction in charge of this village is certain to have casino or two in this village."

Kikoshi sighed as he shrugged his shoulders before answering. "I suppose there is no point in trying to stop you. Just remember to check in with the Second Otokage later when you are finished. But as usual I will have two of our men to accompany you…to provide help with guarding and carrying your winnings."

"Oh no need to worry I brought some scrolls I am just going to seal them into." Sakiko replied with a smile before wandering off.

"Is she even old enough to gamble?" Kakashi asked.

"Doesn't matter…she'll assume a different appearance and then proceed to clean out the casinos in your village."

"Clean them out?" Naruto said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes…where did you think the money that was used to create and manage the Sound Village, not to mention the money to fund Orochimaru's experiments, came from?"

"Are you saying that woman's winnings are what helped finance Orochimaru's village and experiments?" Yamato asked as he seemed surprised.

"Well let me just say that she is so good that not only has she never lost a bet, a game of cards or playing the slots machines that casinos throughout the world were paying Orochimaru to keep her away from their casinos." Kikoshi mused with a smile on his face "She even earned a nickname…The Legendary Gambler."

"The Legendary Gambler."

"Yes…the gambler who never loses."

"Naruto, Lady Hinata." A voice called out as all eyes fell upon a young man wearing the traditional robes of the Hyuga Clan wearing a Konoha forehead protector.

"Hey Neji!" Naruto said as he waved at the Hyuga Clan Branch member.

Neji greeted Naruto with a smile as he approached the group. Kikoshi took notice as he stopped walking to turn his attention to the approaching Hyuga Clan member. "I see you were met with some trouble along the way." Neji commented as he noticed the Hidden Mist ANBU agents walking with them.

"Yeah…that guy" Naruto was trying to say under his breath as he shot Kikoshi a glance "nearly killed Sasuke." Neji looked over at the young man in the white robe and was surprised to see it was another possessor of the byakugan.

"So he must be the one Tsunade mentioned after her meeting with the Second Otokage."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Yesterday a convoy arrived carrying the new Mizukage and the Second Otokage. According to Lady Tsunade the Second Otokage was a skilled medical shinobi and member of the Hyuga Branch Family. I understand she was at one time an understudy of Tsunade and the private physician for the entire Clan."

"Not to mention she is my beloved mother." Kikoshi replied with a smile as he approached the two. "I am Kikoshi Hyuga…former apt pupil of Orochimaru and the strongest shinobi of Otogakure. I have heard much about you Neji Hyuga…I must say your progress in your development of skills and abilities are impressive." Kikoshi said as he offered the Hyuga Clansman his hand.

"Well…" Neji wasn't sure how to reply. "Thank you" as he took Kikoshi's hand and shook it. Neji turned his attention to Hinata as he said "Excuse me Hinata, but your father wanted me to tell you that he must see you as soon as possible."

"Do you know what it is about?" Hinata asked.

"Your father didn't say anything, but he seemed troubled."

"If that is the case then you should go see him Hinata. For now we'll be in Konoha until we resolve this matter." Kakashi said as he stepped in after overhearing their conversation.

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei." Hinata said as she and Neji walked away. Kikoshi was silent, but knowing that talented shinobi like Neji was being chained to the branch family unable to ever succeed the head of the family because he was born into the branch family. Although the thought angered Kikoshi, however another thought in his mind suddenly reserved his mood causing a smile to appear on his face instead.

"What are you smiling about?" Naruto demanded.

"It's nothing…nothing that you will know in good time." Kikoshi replied as he turned and continued on his way towards the Hokage's office.

* * *

Later at the Hokage's office; Kikoshi, Naruto, Kakashi and Yamato were standing before Tsunade with Shizune standing next to her. The female leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves eyed the albino shinobi. "So the famed legendary medical shinobi of the Sannin...we meet face to face. I'll admit this is a pleasure." Kikoshi noted with a grin.

"So you're Orochimaru's student and Maya's son." Tsunade replied.

"I take it you have already met with my mother…the Second Otokage."

"Yes and I am hoping you would care to explain more to me about this alliance your mother and the new Mizukage proposed."

"Of course…I am certain my mother's arrival here in Konoha must have surprised you. Very well I'll lay out the details of the suggested Alliance that will be formed between Leaf, Mist and Sound if approved."

"Strange that I wasn't informed that such an arrangement was being made." Tsunade said as she cast a glare on the young man.

"Well that's a surprise…I was under the assumption that you had approved of the thought of an alliance being made hence why we were summoned to your village to discuss the treaty before its signed." Kikoshi said as he appeared surprised, but Kakashi and Tsunade weren't convinced.

"Is there a catch to this?" Kakashi asked.

"No catch…Orochimaru's self-severing operations and his attempts to destroy your village has hindered our village and brought it close to the brink of collapse so his death came as a blessing for us. We only wish for a cease of hostilities between our villages and a treaty of peace…our village cannot really afford fighting your village and Akatsuki so it's in the best interest of our village that this peace treaty goes through."

"I see, but there is a personal question I would like to ask you?" Tsunade inquired.

"Shoot."

"Exactly how did a child of the Hyuga Clan end up in Orochimaru's hands and no one in this village was unaware of it until now?"

Kikoshi smiled "A good question…how did a single child from the branch family avoided becoming a caged bird without anyone aware of it? Alright I'll tell you…it began about two years prior to Hinata Hyuga's birth." Kikoshi began as he told them the same story his mother had told him.

"As you know Lady Tsunade my mother was avoiding romantic entanglements with other people because I am sure she mentioned that she had no wish to have a child who would only become a slave to the main family. However when you left with a few shinobi to conduct a mission with your boyfriend Dan my mother was in fact seeing someone secretly."

Tsunade was a little surprised…it was true…Maya had purposely avoided having relationships with anyone out of fear she may end up convincing a child with them.

"The man my mother was seeing was a close friend of hers since childhood…despite the difference in positions and responsibilities within the Hyuga Clan they were good friends. I don't know the exact details, but during the time you were gone something inconvincible happened…my mother became pregnant with that man's child…namely me."

"Exactly who was the father?" Kakashi asked.

"I'll get to that part." Kikoshi said before he continued, "anyway my mother had conducted a private pregnancy test upon herself and confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. She told my biological father about it…although they kept it to themselves it turns out that despite my father's place within the clan I would be doomed to become a branch member thus I would be branded with the curse mark. She was told to just accept it, but he did promise I would be treated well." Kikoshi grinned. "Needless to say my mother wouldn't hear of it. Heartbroken and desperate to save me from becoming a slave she turned to the one shinobi who could possibly help her."

"Orochimaru" Tsunade said as she continued to listen.

"Correct…you see she explained her plight to him and eventually agreed to provide assistance. In exchange she would donate her skills as a medical shinobi to help him in his experiments. One noteworthy experiment she was involved in was the one that attempted to integrate the First Hokage's genes into sixties babies."

Tsunade and Yamato including everyone else present were surprised by this revelation.

"There were others, but despite the set backs encountered during the experiment to endow a infant with the First Hokage's genes they were successful in another experiment that only successful thanks to data gathered during previous experiments."

"Another experiment? You mean the one where Orochimaru perfected the Immortality Jutsu?" Yamato asked.

"No there were two other experiments before it that lead to its completion."

"Two?"

"Yes, but let me continue with my story…the answer you want will be given in due time." Kikoshi said before he went on with his story. "When the signs of her pregnancy were becoming clearer, Orochimaru and my mother staged a certain incident that would aid her in her escape from the village."

"Yes I know which incident you are referring to…the one where your mother supposedly committed suicide by setting herself and the home she stayed in on fire thus killing herself and her unborn child. Or so we thought." Tsunade answered as she remembered learning about the incident several days after another tragedy that happened.

"Orochimaru and my mother used a woman my mother altered to stand in as herself. They caught the woman outside the village…she was homeless from what I was told so no one would really miss her. After which my mother was covertly smuggled out of the village as firefighters were putting the fire out while Orochimaru following the incident would lead the investigation into the matter where he could bring it close swiftly without anyone becoming aware of what really happened."

"Then what became of you…where were you born?" Kakashi asked.

"Once Orochimaru had covered up their tracks following the matter and closing of the investigation into my mother's so-called suicide…he would then arrange for himself to receive a long term mission to the north where he would go to his hideout in the north where Orochimaru conducted the bulk of his human experiments. My mother ran the laboratory there on his behalf once construction was complete. I was born and raised in that place ever since until after Orochimaru established his new village."

"As you grew up I image Orochimaru trained you as his student." Naruto noted.

"Yes…when I was old enough I leant him a hand in jutsu development along with my mother. And that is it…that is my story…most of it."

"You may seem that you don't know your village's intentions, but I want to know what you're intentions are?" Tsunade asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you planning to destroy the Hyuga Clan?" Kakashi asked.

Kikoshi grinned before he answered "No…I would rather just live with the wonderful knowledge that they will know that there is a member of the cadet branch who is stronger than all of them combined. I could at my leaser wipe them out, but why waste my time with them when they can be living in constant envy and fear of me."

"Is that it?" Yamato inquired.

"Yes, but I should take it at this time to mention that if any member of the Hyuga Clan attempt to attack me I will fight back and I won't think twice about killing anyone who tries."

"Is that a threat?" Tsunade asked.

"No, only a warning." Kikoshi turned as he proceeded to leave. "If you wish to speak to me again then notify my mother and she'll send me. I'll be late reporting to my mother so I must go…I'll see you all later."

"Hey…are you going to kill Sasuke if you see him again?" Naruto asked.

Kikoshi looked over his shoulder at the young man "We'll see…he is only a warm up. I am really looking forward to facing his brother again, and then…the one who is stronger than Itachi. The man who is the leader of Akatsuki." With those words Kikoshi left the room before anyone could ask Kikoshi any more questions.

* * *

A short time later on the rooftop of a three-story building, Kikoshi was leaping from rooftop to rooftop making his way towards the hotel where his mother was staying. Suddenly Kikoshi activated his byakugan as a smile appeared on his face. He suddenly changed direction and moved towards the Nakano River that ran through the village.

Eventually Kikoshi arrived at a sidewalk that ran long the riverbank. Kikoshi walked up to the railing looking out at the water. Without looking the albino shinobi said, "Why I am not surprised that the Hyuga Clan would send assassins?"

"Then you knew we were coming for you." A voice said as Kikoshi turned around and saw four people standing there. Three of them were middle-aged men wearing dignified robes of the Hyuga Clan main branch family. The last person among them was an older man in his late sixties with long gray hair…he too was a member of the main family of the Hyuga Clan.

"I noticed you following me after I left the Hokage's office. So I led you here so we could have our little chat."

Without blinking one of the younger members of the Hyuga Clan accompanying the elder rushed forward ready to strike Kikoshi down with a blow to the chest, but Kikoshi was faster than the older man as he struck down the Hyuga with a lightning fast blow to the chest. He extended his left arm closing the distance quickly and with a fair amount of charka focused into his hand…Kikoshi caused the man's internal organs to explode killing him instantly.

The man fell to the ground with blood coming out of his mouth and nose. "How dare you?" The elder spat as Kikoshi smiled.

"I knew this was going to happen, and just as I warned the Hokage. I will defend myself if attacked." Kikoshi replied...he knew a battle was imminent now. "You just can't handle the fact that a member of the branch family roams free. Not to mention I am superior to all of you."

That last remark angered the Hyugas standing before Kikoshi, as the elder shouted, "die you bastard child!" The Hyugas all rushed Kikoshi at once who quickly somersaulted into the river. Kikoshi rushed to the other side as he began performing hand signs while the Hyuga were already in hot pursuit.

On the shoreline after making fifty four hand seals Kikoshi shouted "Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique!" The pursuing Hyugas were halfway across the river when Kikoshi launched his counterattack. The dragon hurried towards its target as the elder hurried to left to get out of its way while the other two evaded, but the third young man didn't move in time and was hit head on by the current.

After Kikoshi's attack had hit one of its marks, two more members of the Hyuga main branch leapt out from the trees behind Kikoshi as the two younger Hyugas who evaded Kikoshi's water dragon were also almost upon the albino shinobi. With a smile on his face Kikoshi preformed a hand sign before he holding his hands near his side with the middle finger and his index finger extended out on both hands just as their blows made contact.

At the last moment a cocoon of charka enveloped Kikoshi as he began to spin his body around as he shouted "Wind Release: Eight Trigrams Cyclone of Blades!"

The Wind Release: Eight Trigrams Cyclone of Blades is one of Kikoshi developed form of gentle fist fighting technique. Like the Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin Kikoshi's own enhanced version of this technique works the same way, but the difference is that Kikoshi applied his wind element charka to the rotation and using the same technique the Sand Shinobi Baki uses which is the (Kaze no Yaiba) Sword of Wind.

Kikoshi can now envelope anyone who is repelled by his rotation into a cutting whirlwind, which will decapitate them and anything else within the range of his rotation, which he could extend up to fifteen meters. The four Hyugas were sliced to pieces within the horrific whirlwind of blades that overtook them causing the air to shower limbs and blood. Even the trees near Kikoshi were cut apart by the technique he unleashed.

"Impossible!" The elder said as he saw the carnage Kikoshi had created with his last technique.

"Not impossible…you see I have simply taken gentle fist to a new level taking all I have learned and developed new and better techniques. The Wind Release: Eight Trigrams Cyclone of Blades is one of the four new techniques I invited using what I learned from mastering gentle fist and the Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin."

"You couldn't have learned those techniques."

"I did…once my mother taught me gentle fist figuring out the other techniques the Main Branch kept to themselves were easy to figure out with time and training. You were a fool to think you could just come and kill me with no effort. You were wrong to judge me by my appearance and linage which allowed you and your friends to be careless."

The elder Hyuga didn't reply, but only looked at the young shinobi in anger. To him it was an outrage that a branch family member had completely surpassed the main family in strength…the thought of Neji being the strongest young man in the family was bad enough.

Suddenly Kikoshi was standing behind the elder Hyuga with his sword drawn.

"And now you will die."

As Kikoshi swung his sword about to deliver a killing blow someone shouted, "Stop it!" Kikoshi stopped his blade right next to the Hyuga's neck and looked to his right, as did the elder.

"Lord Hiashi!" The elder declared as the leader of the Hyuga Clan was seen standing on the water.

"So its you…I trust you came to do what your pitiful excuse of relatives couldn't?" Kikoshi said with a smirk on his face.

"No…when I noticed a few members of our family left I quickly realized what they were going to do." Hiashi gave the elder a cold stare. "Are you a fool…despite the situation that boy and his mother are under the diplomatic protection of our country's lord? We cannot act against them while they are."

"But Lord Hiashi the blood of our clan must be kept within the village…I was acting in the best interest of our clan."

"No…you were acting in the best interest of your pride. If you were successful you would have invited war upon our village where Konoha cannot afford to wage a war with anyone right now since our strength is still depleted from the Sand and Sound Invasion two years ago."

"Well I guess you got lucky this time." Kikoshi replied as he kicked the old Hyuga away from him. The strength his kick carried sent him flying across the river and slamming into the ground on the other side. "But attempt to kill me again and you will not live to see another day."

Kikoshi sheathed his sword and turned to walk away, but Hiashi stopped him.

"Wait…Kikoshi is your name right?"

Kikoshi stopped "Yes…and what do you want?"

"I" Hiashi began, but stopped short when another voice interrupted.

"Hiashi it's been awhile." Hiashi looked to his right and saw Maya standing there in her Otokage robes minus the hat. "You look well."

"Maya!"

Maya surveyed the area examining Kikoshi's handiwork. With a smile accompanied by a laugh Maya said "well done my son…you have proven you are superior to the main family. All of my work and sacrifices has finally bore fruit."

"Thank you mother…those fools attacked me, I fought back in self-defense."

"So what do you think Hiashi…what do you think of our **child**?" Maya said with a wicked smile.

* * *

A/N: information chapter with a battle near the end. Kikoshi's linage has been revealed, but another secret will be learned next chapter. Stay tuned and thanks for your reviews on the last chapter they are very well appreciated. 


	8. Chapter 8 A mother’s daughter

A/N: since I took so long with the last chapter I figured I whip this one out as soon as possbile to make up for the time I took. Thank you for your reviews…I loved the latest ones and you guys guessed it right. :)

* * *

Chapter 8

A mother's daughter

In another area of Konoha, Tsunade was walking down the street towards one of her favorite places in the village. Gambler's Heaven: Konoha's most popular casino with Tsunade being one of its regulars, and of course, one of the casino's favorites due to the fact that she always goes broke when she gambles.

In order to keep her coming; the casino graciously offered that as long as they are allowed to stay in business she could take as long as she wants to repay all of her debts she owes them. In an hour she was going to have a meeting with her so-called advisers regarding the treaty.

With all of the _surprise _she has faced today the Hokage decided a short game of shots would ease her stress. Tsunade was about to walk in when she saw a middle-aged man with a beard wearing respectable clothing on his knees crying. Tsunade recognized him as the owner of the casino.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh Lady Tsunade thank god you are here…its terrible!" The man said as he continued to sob. She grabbed onto the woman's feet as he begged "I am losing money with every second that little girl is in there!"

"Little girl…I thought the legal age to gamble in your place was 21 and up?" Tsunade asked as she cocked an eyebrow.

"At first she came in here as an old woman, but when she was wining non-stop we tried to ask her to leave. But she broke the arms and legs of my boys when we tried to remove her. After that she assumed her true form…so please lady Tsunade if you stop her and make her give back all she won we'll consider your debt repaid and we'll even extend you some credit." The man begged as his eyes were streaming with tears.

"Alright I'll take care of this problem, but let go of me first!" Tsunade said as she shook the man off her legs. The man eventually let go before Tsunade walked into the casino…it didn't take her long to find the girl in question due mostly to the crowd that had formed around her.

"Look at her go." One onlooker said.

"Has this girl even lost anything yet?" Another person in the crowd said.

"Damn…she is only what…sixteen…fifteen?" A third asked.

Tsunade asked the crowd to let her pass until she was standing behind Sakiko who was playing and winning in a game of craps.

"Come on sevens!" The girl shouted happily as she was virtually surrounded by tall towers of chips. Sakiko allowed the dice to roll and sure enough she got sevens. "I win!"

"Holy shit!" The man who ran the table said.

"She wins again!" One of the onlookers said.

Tsunade was wide-eyed at this woman's winning streak, but it was time for her to stop otherwise she might force one of her favorite casinos to close down. The Hokage began tapping the young woman's shoulder.

"What do you want?" Sakiko snapped.

"Aren't you a little young to be gambling?"

"Oh please…you're just jealous that a little girl can gamble better than you…old hag."

That remark hit a sore spot as Tsunade was about to rip the girl from her seat, but in a surprising turn of events Sakiko grabbed Tsunade's hand and flipped her over her shoulder and slammed her back first on the table. Everyone backed away in surprise as cards and chips were sent flying.

Tsunade was surprised…she didn't think the girl had the same superhuman strength as she Sakura possess.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Konoha's Legendary Sucker and resident old hag." Sakiko said as her voice was filled with venom.

"Stop calling me old hag!" Tsunade snapped as she kicked Sakiko in the face. The kick sent Sakiko flying into the air and eventually out the doors.

As the young woman picked herself up and dusted herself off Tsunade stormed out of the building while near by the owner was on his knees with a smile on his face. He was happy that Tsunade had put an end to the girl's winning streak. The blow Sakiko took to her face was enough to break the sunglasses she was wearing.

"Listen here little girl I am already in a bad mood as it is. Calling me an old hag isn't a very smart thing for you to do right now?"

"Oh and why is that?" Sakiko snapped as she glared at Tsunade whose eyes met with hers. Tsunade was taken back when she looked at the young woman's face and her eyes. Sakiko's eyes were light brown, but they were snake-like…just like her father's eyes. Her face however had a striking resemblance to Tsunade's own face.

Tsunade was taken back by the woman's appearance: who appeared to be a near mirror image of how she looked when she was round the young woman's same age.

"What's wrong…is it the resemblance we share…mother!" Sakiko snapped as her eyes glared upon the Hokage filled with nothing but hate.

Tsunade was speechless, she wanted to deny such a claim, but the resemblance between them was something she couldn't ignore.

"But how? I don't recall having a child?"

"Oh don't tell me you don't remember. What my father told me was that after your boyfriend Dan died he came across you in a bar literally drinking yourself to death. You were so drunk that daddy had to carry you home since he couldn't have you tarnish the reputation of the Sannin and his own by doing that to yourself. I suppose you were so ashamed of yourself for what happened afterwards that you tried so hard to forget."

Tsunade was paralyzed by the revelation at the same time she did recall those events as those memories resurfaced in her mind.

"At last after seventeen years I can finally have justice." Sakiko declared, as she looked skyward with her head titled back as she opened her mouth to allow a snake to poke its head out. Its jaws opened up and the Sword of Kusanagi emerged. It fell into Sakiko's left hand before raising the blade and pointing it at Tsunade's neck.

"Wait!" Tsunade said, but Sakiko charged ready to cleave her mother's head off. However a cloud of smoke appeared in-between the two women as Sakiko stopped in her tracks. A large toad with red and black spots on its skin wearing a bedded necklace had appeared in front of them.

On top of the toad was Jiraiya who looked at Sakiko asking "Alright that's enough ladies."

"So Jiraiya has come to rescue his dear Tsunade...you should have let me kill this bitch." Sakiko mocked.

"Really…I think you forgot that your village leader is here with the leader of the Hidden Mist Village to discuss a treaty of alliance. I doubt your leader would want that ruined by the Hokage's death."

Sakiko was still enraged, but she lowered the blade as it transformed into a snake and disappeared up her sleeve.

"Fine I'll spare her worthless life for now, but only if you" Sakiko reached into her robe to pull something out. She handed Jiraiya a pair of book with the first titled Make-Out Paradise while the second book was titled Make-Out Tactics. "Autograph these books for me!"

"What?" Jiraiya asked as he was wide eyed at the request. "Are those books someone else's or yours?"

"Well mines of course…oh and I need to tell Kikoshi to see you so he can get his signed too."

"You guys read these, but hold on a sec you two are at least a year below the age limit."

"And your point is…if you don't want me to attempt to take her life then sign and I'll go away happily." Sakiko said with a cheerful expression.

Wishing to avoid any violence Jiraiya compiled with the woman's request and autographed the books. "Thank you so much Jiraiya-sama!" With those words Sakiko happily skipped away with a smile while hugging the books in her arms.

"Are you alright?" Jiraiya asked as he turned to Tsunade offering his hand.

Ignoring his hand Tsunade got back to her feet without his help with a look of sadness on her face. "I am not injured, but I am a long way from ok."

Jiraiya gestured for the woman to come with him as the two walked off.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the Nakano River: Hiashi, Maya and Kikoshi were having a family reunion of shorts. Kikoshi was glaring at his father while Maya was standing near the two of them with a small grin on his face.

"So you're the man I would have called father if he was one. But instead he was going to have me placed with the slaves of the branch family instead of taking my rightful place as heir to the clan as your son. You know that rightfully belongs to me."

"Kikoshi you must understand that I wasn't leader of the Clan yet and the elders of the clan refused to allow a child who was convinced between a main family and branch family member to be allowed into the main family…let alone become heir. Even if we were married it was impossible." Hiashi explained.

"Really now…looks to me you love your pureblood wife and two pure blood kids over your own first born and a woman you loved. I understand you never truly loved the woman who was arranged by the main family to be your wife. But still like a heartless bastard you still went along with it breaking my mother's heart."

Hiashi was saddened by the remark as Kikoshi continued to speak his mind.

"My body on the other hand received alterations before I was even born. Did you think I received this albino appearance naturally?" Kikoshi commented as he looked down at his hands.

"Alterations?"

"Yes Hiashi…you see my mother was experimented on by Orochimaru a short time before I was born my body was integrated with the power of the white snake. Thus I can regenerate and heal myself at eighty-seven times faster than the avenger human. Light wounds I can heal myself almost instantly. As a result of the manipulation done to my unborn body we discovered that I gained some inhuman abilities with some stronger than average strength and agility."

"Maya you allowed Orochimaru to experiment on your own body before Kikoshi was born?" Hiashi said, as he was angered and distressed over his former lover's actions.

"I only did so because I wanted my son to be all he could be. I wanted him to be the strongest shinobi on this planet. All the data of Orochimaru's experiments we had I used to enhance Kikoshi using the powers and abilities the white snake offered. Including the curse seal of heaven, which my son was born with; only his is more of the real thing...a prototype curse mark if you will." Maya paused for a moment to take note of Hiashi's expression.

"Unlike Sasuke's mark which can be considered a mass production version which is slightly weaker than the one Kikoshi has. This is because since he was born with the curse mark he was able to draw on its full power and use abilities much like the one Juugo has. Juugo in his second stage form can alter his arms and different areas of his body with wings, arm blades and etc…these abilities my son gained while Sasuke and his curse seal has him limited to using his wings to fly or to use them as extra hangs. It was thanks to that Kikoshi's birth made the finalized enzyme product which lead to the creation of the other curse seals possible."

"So from this Juugo to which Kikoshi received the first Curse Mark was the curse seal created. I thought Anko was the first to receive it?"

"Yes and no…she was the first to receive the completed product without having to be born with it. Officially Anko was the first to receive the finished Curse Seal of Heaven, which was produced using completed Curse Seal that Kikoshi was born with. However the data from Kikoshi's birth did lead to the completion of another experiment Orochimaru was working on."

"Which experiment was that?"

"Developing the Immortality Jutsu."

"How did Kikoshi's birth lead to its creation?"

"A key to making the Immortality Jutsu work is to first allow the user's body to become modified with white snakes. By testing a similar process on Kikoshi we worked out a means of successfully integrating the white serpents into a person."

"So does this mean the body I am seeing now is not Kikoshi's?" Hiashi asked.

"No…his body is still his own, but…there was someone who needed to test the jutsu before Orochimaru used it."

Hiashi was unsure by what he meant as he looked at Maya. He remembered how beautiful she was…in fact her appearance was exactly the same as he remembered her. That was when a horrifying thought hit him…Kikoshi never tested out the Immortality Jutsu…it was.

"Maya…don't tell me you?"

The woman grinned as she raised one hand to her face and pulled the facemask she had been wearing revealing the face of a younger woman who was in her early twenties. She had the byakugan as well…or so it seemed. Maya began laughing as she answered, "Yes dear I used the Immortality Jutsu to steal the body of another. How did you think I escaped your curse mark jutsu? Even my byakugan carries over when I take a new host." Maya said as she spoke with the voice of another woman.

"You're…you're no longer human?"

"To tell you the true Hiashi I never truly intended to use the Immortality Jutsu…I used it out of necessity to save myself."

"What?"

"Those experiments I put my own body through to in an effort to make my son stronger did take their toll on me years later. I was dying so in order to survive I had to use the Immortality Jutsu to save my life."

"I can't believe you did that." A new voice came as a woman who was at least twenty-seven years age with purple hair wearing a khaki coat with shin guards on her legs.

"Well this day is just full of surprises. Anko Mitarashi I believe…Orochimaru's first student."

"You must be the albino kid I heard about from Tsunade."

"Yes I am."

"Before we continue; why don't we have another eavesdropper join us? You can come out from behind that tree Hinata."

Hiashi was a little surprised as over his shoulder to the left he saw Hinata approach the railing.

"You have been listening to us for quite a while…you now must be aware of our true relationship."

"Hinata I thought I told you to stay at home?" Hiashi snapped.

"Why leave her in the dark…she would have found out sooner or later." Kikoshi pointed out.

"Father I was worried about you…ever since I came back from that mission you been concerned."

"Be quiet!" Hiashi demanded.

"Now, now isn't that anyway to treat your oldest daughter?" Maya said with a shy smile.

"I guess that proves how cruel and heartless you really are." Kikoshi mocked.

"Hey that's enough!" Anko shouted.

"I agree…I grow weary of this conversation. Mother if you have no objections I will retire for the day to my hotel room."

"Go ahead dear." Maya said as she placed the face of her old body back on her face. "Much better…come to think of it I too will leave. It's been good seeing you again Hiashi" Maya brought her hands together before disappearing leaving only a puff of smoke.

Without a word Hiashi turned around and walked away while Anko made no effort to stop him. Hinata stood silently for a moment before she called "father wait." Hiashi continued walking ignoring his daughter completely. Anko leapt up onto the sidewalk and walked up to the young Hyuga girl.

"I think you should leave your dad alone for awhile. He wasn't attacked by those two, but that encounter really has him hurting I imagine."

"I wish there was something I could do for my father."

"I understand, but there are just some times when people are better left alone. Talking with him about it may not help him right now. Learning he had a son with that woman who was raised into a real piece of work by Orochimaru is news that would wreck anyone's day."

"I guess so, but I wish there was something I could do."

"At this point there isn't much."

"Kikoshi's charka…I saw it on our way back to Konoha. It was filled with malice towards me and anyone who is a member of the main family."

"So?"

"I know I'll probably have to face him so," Hinata said as she looked at Anko. "He said you were Orochimaru's first student and he was his second?"

"Yeah…what exactly are you getting at?" Anko asked as she was rubbing the back of her head.

"Could you take me as your apprentice?"

"WHAT?" Anko said as her eyes went wide at the request.

* * *

A/N: I was debating over if I would throw in that Kikoshi was born with curse mark and he had his body integrated with the power of the white serpent (explaining his albino appearance), but I figured heck why not. If it doesn't work out I can always edit that part out . Anyway further details on Sakiko's birth will be explained while bringing together Kikoshi and Sakiko's stories. Sasuke and co will make an appearance next chapter along with Akatsuki. As promised there is Naruto and Hinata fluff coming up, but if Anko takes Hinata under her wing, which will lead to trouble and hard-core training exercises. lol 


	9. Chapter 9 Stories

A/N: well since I have been on a roll with chapter creations I figured heck I'll give you guys another bonus chapter for this week since my Internet might be down for a week or two. Enjoy and thanks for your reviews.

* * *

Chapter 9

Stories

"You're pulling my leg…you want me to be your sensei? You're a chunin for crying out loud."

"I know my request seems unreasonable, but I know I'll have to face Kikoshi in the future so I need someone who was trained by Orochimaru to help me get stronger."

"I get it…you want me to train you because of that kid's training. You're thinking I know some of his moves and techniques Orochimaru would have taught him right?"

"Yes."

"I guess it's reasonable, but look I am not looking for students right now. For Pete's shake I just became a jonin a few days ago."

"Please…I'll pay you?"

Anko rolled her eyes as she looked down at Hinata. "Well the kid who hates your guts does have the byakugan so he will probably try to kill you, which means there may be a chance I may end up facing him myself." Anko thought about it more until the kunoichi eased up and sighed. "It always happens…because I am too nice. Ok kid I'll take you under my wing, but I am not going easy on you just because you are Lord Hiashi's daughter you got that. My training will be hard core and a lot of pain and sweat will be involved…think you can handle it?"

"Uh…yes I think so…I'll try to do my best." Hinata answered meekly.

"Ok first rule…no saying I think so or I'll try my best. Losers whine about their best while winners go home and make out with the hottest guy from prom night."

"Yes madam." Hinata said sharply.

"Meet me at training grounds near the dry river bed tomorrow at six am sharp. Make sure you bring a change of clothes and wear something you don't mind getting ripped or dirtied."

"What?"

"Like I said my training will be hard core…chances of injury are at least 91 percent." Anko noted while cracking her knuckles.

* * *

Meanwhile across town at the Ichiraku Ramen restaurant: Naruto was having a bowl of his favorite ramen with his old teacher from the academy Iruka. The young man didn't say much about his mission, but Iruka had already heard about it from Kakashi and Yamato individually.

Sakura's capture worried the middle-aged chunin deeply, but he was growing equally concerned with the unexpected turn of events with Sound and Water asking for an Alliance. The whole thing troubled the ninja teacher deeply, but Iruka so preoccupied with his thoughts that he almost forgot that Naruto was with him trying to ask him something.

"Hey sensei…what's wrong you are staring off into space?"

"Huh" Iruka was snapped back to reality as he turned to Naruto and replied, "sorry I was just thinking. So when are you expected to go back out to look for Sakura and Sasuke?"

"Tomorrow I hope." Naruto answered with a worried look on his face.

"Well good luck, but I wish I could help you out."

"Don't worry sensei…I'll find them, and besides what will your students do if you're not around?"

Iruka smile "good point…I guess I can't exactly skip out on work on short notice."

"Say sensei I got a question for you?"

"What is it Naruto?"

"Is it true?" Naruto began to ask, but started to sweat.

"What is true?" Iruka said as he was wondering what kind of question the young man was going to ask.

"Does Hinata have a crush on me?"

Iruka almost fell out of his chair when Naruto finished his sentence wondering if Naruto had just realized it, known about it or someone had to yell at him explaining it. Somehow he suspected it to be the latter.

"Yes she does Naruto…you knew about it?"

"Well?" Naruto's face turned red with embarrassment as he began rubbing the back of his head thus confirming Iruka's suspicions. "Hey my ramen is getting cold!" Naruto began shoveling ramen into his mouth while Iruka sweat dropped. At that moment the owner of the shop and one of his employees looked at one another before going into the back of the restaurant.

The owner said, "Ok I win the bet fork it over."

"Damn I was hoping that kid would have figured it out on his own." The worker said as he handed his boss a fist full of dollars and whatever spare change he had in his pocket.

"You don't know the kid like I do." The owner mused with a smile on his face.

* * *

A little later that day at a local bar located on the eastern side of the village; Kakashi was sitting with Jiraiya while Tsunade was seated next to him while the copy ninja sat just opposite of them. Lucky for them; Tsunade had drank enough alcohol until she passed out. The sudden encounter with the daughter she never knew she had, and to top it off Orochimaru was the father was too much for Tsunade to handle at once. Tsunade's unconsciousness allowed Kakashi and Jiraiya to talk without hurting the woman's heart more.

Jiraiya had just finished filling in Kakashi on what happened outside of the casino.

"So Sakiko is Orochimaru and Tsunade's child…man that must have been one hell of a shock." Kakashi noted.

"Well taking into consideration that she has learned a friend who hasn't died is still alive and was serving Orochimaru prior to his demise, the village elders have apparently turned against her by arranging for this alliance between Sound and Mist. Combine that with the shock she got and well…you don't to be one expert on psychology to figure the rest out. I haven't seen her like this since Dan died."

"Any idea on how it happened?"

"Well from what I managed to gather from Tsunade as she drank…after Dan died Orochimaru escorted Tsunade home one night. He had to summon a serpent to help him carry her since she was so intoxicated that she was barely able to walk home on her own." Jiraiya took a slip from his drink before he continued. "The details are stretchy at best, but apparently when he brought Tsunade home she made some advances on him not wishing to be alone. I can imagine from there that eventually one thing lead to another."

"It was really a one night stand. Tsunade wasn't exactly in the right state of mind judging by what you are telling me."

"More or less, but Tsunade did have some feelings for Orochimaru that bordered on romance. However Orochimaru was too cold and distant for a real relationship to form. To tell you the truth I knew nothing of the pregnancy. At the time following Dan's death I was sent into the Land of Lightning on a raiding and intelligence gather mission. It was suppose to have been quick, but we ended up spending up to nine to ten months in enemy territory since we were constantly trying to avoid being discovered."

"So you weren't here when she gave birth."

"Yes…by the time I finally returned to Konoha after completing my mission I found out that Tsunade had left with Shizune. No one else knew of her status of carrying a child…somehow I suspected the Third Hokage might have been aware of it. But I am willing to be bet Tsunade kept the whole thing quiet and hid it from everyone."

"I see…since you and I were never aware of it then Tsunade did hide it from everyone."

"However I am trying to figure out how Tsunade was lead to believe her child died, but in reality it was raised by Orochimaru."

"Maybe I can answer that…if you'll sign my book Jiraiya-sama." A voice said as both men turned to see Kikoshi standing there holding his two copies of Jiraiya's books under his arm. "The legendary toad sage we meet at last…this is quite an honor."

"Its you again." Kakashi said as he glared at the albino shinobi.

"You must be the byakugan user I have heard about…Kikoshi Hyuga wasn't it?"

"So you have heard of me I am flattered."

"From what my information sources have told me. You're a hard one to find information on…there is very little known about you."

"I hope to change that." Kikoshi answered with a grin.

"So what do you know about Orochimaru's involvement in this?"

"Sign please…then I'll tell you all I know."

"Man you two…I can't believe you guys got your copies of my books without being caught for being underage." Jiraiya commented as he autographed the books.

"Were shinobi…how did you think we got them?" Kikoshi answered as he accepted them back.

"Good point…anyway what do you know?"

"Well bare in mind what I am about to tell you is what Orochimaru told me…so it's more of his side of the story."

"Of course…go on."

"Orochimaru wasn't aware of Tsunade being pregnant with his child at first."

"What?" Kikoshi's response threw both Kakashi and Jiraiya into a loop as the sharingan eye shinobi asked, "Then how did Sakiko end up in his care?"

"The private physician Tsunade was seeing when she discovered her pregnancy and was seeing her trusting the said doctor to keep it between them and no one else. However that doctor used the information upon learning that Tsunade was considering aborting the child."

"Tsunade wouldn't consider that?" Jiraiya snapped interrupting Kikoshi.

"Maybe, but like I told you…everything I know about what happened came from Orochimaru so I can't really prove if its true or not."

"Ok…go on." Kakashi gestured.

"Anyway Tsunade's physician went to see Orochimaru secretly who was informed of Tsunade's pregnancy and the fact that the child was his…the good doctor even showed him DNA results proving it. Naturally Orochimaru was actually heartbroken and outraged that Tsunade had kept something like this from him."

"Heartbroken?" Kakashi asked as he found it impossible for someone like Orochimaru to be heartbroken.

"Believe it or not Orochimaru was actually deeply hurt by this betrayal. So much so that it hardened his resolve in all he did."

"What?" Jiraiya said as Kikoshi's last statement surprised him.

"I was surprised myself when he said that…I guess that betrayal killed any lasting feelings of guilt and remorse he had left or so I was lead to believe, but its what he said. Anyway the physician offered him a deal."

"A deal?"

"Yes…in exchange for helping Orochimaru gain sole custody of his child and helping him raise it in a safe isolated area far away from the village her own child could be saved from becoming a slave."

"Her own" Jiraiya began when suddenly something went click in his mind…he realized now who the physician was. Maya Hyuga was the doctor who was checking on her during her pregnancy and the one who carried out the delivery on her own judging from the lack of knowledge people knew of the child's birth. "You're mother…so that was the deal…not only were you snuck out of the village before you were born, but your mother escaped with Tsunade's new born daughter in tow to raise her until Orochimaru left the village where he could be watching her 24/7."

"Yes…my mother's assistance was only part of the deal, but the real reason Orochimaru helped my mother was to get sole custody of his child and get his hands on the byakugan allowing him to study it."

"It makes sense now…so your mother was involved with it. To save you she betrayed Tsunade's trust and sided with Orochimaru."

"She did it after the village and the man she loved betrayed her first. Just as Orochimaru did when his Tsunade, his mentor along with everything he taught betrayed him." Kikoshi answered firmly.

Before the conversation could continue any further a new voice entered interrupting them. "Kikoshi…I have been looking for you."

Kikoshi turned to see the Mizukage entering the bar.

"Lord Mizukage sorry if I was running late." Kikoshi said with a polite bow.

"So you're the new Mizukage?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes, and Kakashi" The Mizukage said followed with a chuckle "its been awhile."

"Have we met before?" Kakashi asked, as he seemed confused.

"We met once before…in the Land of Waves before I died remember." The Mizukage said as he removed his hat revealing his hair and part of his face, which was enough for Kakashi to recognize him.

"Zabuza! Why I am not surprised…if Haku was alive then you were probably alive as well."

"That's right…Kikoshi here resurrected us shortly after we died and you and your squad left the land of waves. Before which Kikoshi and his mother managed to take possession of whatever assets Goto had following his death. With Goto's assets combined with Kikoshi and the Sound Village's help my take over of the Land of Water succeeded with little difficulty." Zabuza noted with a smile.

"So this Alliance is part of your arrangement?"

"Not really…you see the civil war that engulfed the land of water has left the village in a slight mess so I am signing the treaty of Alliance with Konoha so I may not have to worry about anyone from outside my country attacking me while I solidify my position as Mizukage and ruler of the Land of Water."

"So the Land of Water is a country run by shinobi now?" Jiraiya asked.

"Exactly…no feudal lord, only a Kage is calling the shots."

"So what are you up to now?" Kakashi asked him.

"I merely came here looking for Kikoshi and while I was at it I thought I might say hello." Zabuza answered with a grin, but it was hidden behind his facial bandages.

"Speaking of which I must take my leave. Good day" Kikoshi said as he left the bar with Zabuza. However no one was aware that tears was falling from Tsunade's eyes…unknown to both Kakashi and Jiraiya: Tsunade wasn't unconscious. She had heard Kikoshi's whole story.

* * *

Once the two were well out of earshot of Kakashi and Jiraiya: Zabuza turned to the young man and said.

"I have some news regarding Sasuke…a local fisherman up north said they saw him with a group of others purchasing a fishing boat to take them to the Land of Waves."

"When do you expect they will reach the Land of Waves?"

"The boat is expected to arrive tomorrow evening after it swings around a small island north east of the small island country."

"Excellent…I'll leave later tonight under the cover of darkness. I'll meet up with some of our men still searching the east regions in the Land of Fire. I'll ask mother to send word to our mutual allies to meet us in the Land of Waves. We'll set up a little ambush."

"Excellent…I'll send Haku with you to command my men."

"Ok, but I'll leave Kimimaro and Sakiko to guard you and my mother just in case our plans for the treaty turns sour. I'll send a message through one of my snakes when we find Sasuke."

"Very well…I have already spoken to Danzo and he has already agreed to help smuggle you out of the village after sun down so Tsunade and those who support her will be unaware of your departure. He has even offered to deploy two squads of Root operatives to assist you."

"That's very generous of him…I'll be ready to go by sundown. If we push through the forest we should reach the Land of Waves tomorrow afternoon."

"Lord Mizukage" A voice asked as Zabuza and Kikoshi looked behind them and saw three figures standing there. One was a young man who seemed to be about fifteen years of age wearing white and blue robes. Those accompanying him were a little older: the second was an boy who was about a year older than the first young man wearing all black clothing with face paint and three large scrolls strapped on his back while the third was a young woman who seemed to be the oldest of the group wearing a black robe carrying a large fan on her back.

"Lord Kazekage…I didn't expect to see you here in Konoha."

"I am here to speak with the Hokage to discuss the final preparations for the chunin exams as well as other matters that concerns both of our villages." Gaara paused for a moment. "However I'll admit I didn't expect to see you here; I heard that you have recently succeeded the Fourth Mizukage after a coup took place." Gaara said as his older siblings stayed close to their younger brother. "What exactly brings you here?"

"I am here along with some friends from Otogakure are here to sign a treaty of Alliance with Konoha and its allies. Uniting Mist and Sound with Konoha and its allies."

Kankuro and Temari were surprised, but Gaara remained claim "So the rumors I have heard on my way to Konoha are true."

"Yes…The Hokage was surprised by the proposal."

"That is something I'll have to discuss with her, but who is this?" Gaara asked looking at Kikoshi.

"His name is Kikoshi Hyuga…a hunter-nin from the Sound Village. The village elders in Konoha have asked for his services to deal with a potential future threat to the village."

"Gaara of the Sand I have heard much about you…reputation wise of course." Kikoshi greeted with a smile before bowing politely.

"A member of the Hyuga Clan a part of the Village Hidden in the Sound…I thought the Hyuga Clan had strict rules built to keep the Hyuga bloodline within Konoha." Temari noted.

"Lets just say I am a…exception to that rule."

"I am certain the Fifth Hokage will fill you in on the details Lord Kazekage." Zabuza mentioned before he looked to Kikoshi "I think you should report to Lady Otokage…she is waiting for you at the hotel."

"Yes of course…I hope to see you three again soon." Kikoshi said as he preformed a quick hand sign before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

A/N: All right…next chapter should be interesting. Hinata beings her tutorship under Anko, Sasuke and co reach the Land of Waves while Kikoshi is back on the hunt leaving Naruto and others unaware. Gaara and his siblings appearing in Konoha will spice things up a little especially with Kankuro visiting Naruto with Gaara next chapter. Coming soon. 


	10. Chapter 10 Meetings

Chapter 10

Meetings

Back at the bar where Jiraiya, Kakashi and Tsunade were at; the two male shinobi were talking to one another while Tsunade kept her head down on the table. They continued talking until Kakashi noticed someone enter the bar. Hiashi waltzed towards the trio's table as he took a seat with them. His expression was a sign to both Kakashi and Jiraiya that he wasn't exactly in a positive mood.

"Lord Hyuga…what brings you to this side of the village?" Kakashi asked.

"I was told you two were with Lady Tsunade…somewhere on this side of town." Hiashi answered as looked over at the blonde kunochi. "Is she alright?"

"She isn't injured, but as she said earlier she is far from fine." Jiraiya answered.

"I see…what happened?" Hiashi asked.

* * *

As Kakashi and Jiraiya both began to tell Hiashi everything they had learned about Kikoshi and Sakiko. A short time later at Ichiraku Ramen restaurant; Naruto was digging into his second bowl of ramen when his bowl began moving away from him.

"Hey!" Naruto cried as he tried to grab his bowl back, but it suddenly floated up into the air dangling right above the blonde haired shinobi while at the same time Iruka was wide eyed at the sight. "What the hell is going on? My ramen is possessed!" Naruto tried to grab it again, but the blow floated higher and began flying around the ramen restaurant.

After four attempts to recapture his ramen, the bowl slowly lowered itself back onto the table allowing Naruto to finally grab it.

"What on earth was going on with your bowl Naruto?"

"I don't known sensei, but" Naruto stopped when he noticed glowing light blue threads attached to his bowl.

"That was funny…the same guy who faced down Gaara and went against dangerous shinobi would have taken out the average ninja couldn't keep his hands on his lunch." Naruto turned around to see a laughing Kankuro standing there with a wide grin on his face.

"You!"

"Yeah it's me…me and my family decided to pay Konoha a visit, but while we were here we decided to pay you a visit." Kankuro said as Gaara stepped into the Ichiraku Ramen restaurant and walked up to Naruto as Gaara took a seat next to him.

"Hi Gaara" Naruto said as he greeted the young shinobi leader with a friendly smile.

"Naruto…you should address him as Lord Kazekage." Iruka scolded.

"Its alright…I prefer it if Naruto address me by name." Gaara noted.

"Yes sir." Iruka replied respectfully.

"So what are you doing here?"

"I came here to speak with Tsunade about the chunin exams and other matters involving our villages, but on my way here I heard about an alliance treaty being drawn up between the allies of Konoha with Sound and Mist. I suspect you two might be able to provide me with details until I can find Lady Tsunade…according to her assistant she had gone out for a few hours."

"Well I am not sure what is going on, but I know Tsunade knew nothing of any treaty until yesterday."

"What do you mean?"

"The village elders and the daimyo were arranging to sign this peace treaty behind Tsunade's back." Iruka answered.

"So they went over Tsunade's head to sign a peace treaty with Sound and Mist." Kankuro asked to verify what he was hearing.

"Pretty much" Naruto replied.

"I see…I am curious to know why they would go so far to do that."

"Beats me? I thought Akatsuki was our only problems?"

"Speaking of them, my village has been investigating Akatsuki ever since Sasori was defeated with aid from Jiraiya-sama."

"Really…what did you find out?"

"We discovered who the leader of Akatsuki is."

"Really?" Naruto exclaimed as his eyes lit up.

"Yes…according to our information it's a formidable shinobi from Amegakure in the Land of Rain. His name is Pain and he is the leader of a faction of shinobi who are at civil war with Amegakure."

"A civil war?" Iruka asked curiously.

"For some time now the Land of Rain has been in a civil war with the leader of Akatsuki leading the faction that seeks to topple the current ruling shinobi and government." Gaara explained.

"But lately it seems they are losing the war" A new voice said as Temari stepped in and joined her youngest brother and Naruto on a stool. "Lately we have been requests from Amegakure for aid because their shinobi have either joined Pain or have been killed."

"So are you guys planning to go after him?"

"That is what I came to Konoha to discuss in person with your Hokage."

"Of course no one has seen where she has gone. We assumed the casino was where she went, but we didn't find her there. Last we heard she had gone somewhere with Jiraiya after an incident occurred at the casino." Kankuro added.

"Incident?"

"From what the owner of the place told us…Tsunade was asked to stop a young woman from the Sound Village who was clearing the place out with her winning streak. A fight nearly broke out, but Tsunade was able to put a stop to it. Afterwards she left with Jiraiya."

"Why did she go with prevy-sage?"

"I don't know…the owner didn't know the specifics." Temari answered.

"I wonder what happened." Naruto asked.

"I have been wondering that myself, but it seems this day has been anything but uneventful." Gaara pointed out.

* * *

Late that evening inside the hotel where Maya was staying at; Kikoshi was standing before his mother as she was giving him extra instructions to take care of while on the hunt for Sasuke.

"Do you understand your instructions?"

"Yes mother…once I eliminate Sasuke if he doesn't manage to get away again I'll head to Kirigakure in the Land of Water and then I'll go to Kumogakure to finalize our alliance with them on my way back to Konoha."

"It doesn't matter if Sasuke escapes or is killed my son, but what I am hoping for is that he'll kill some of Konoha's shinobi or better yet some civilians." Maya explained.

"Of course, but to be on the safe side I am leaving Sakiko and Kimimaro with you to watch your back."

"Good idea…I'll take care of things here in Konoha to make sure all of our plans will be carried out."

"Then I'll head out." Kikoshi said as he turned to head out the door, but his mother stopped him.

"Be sure that you say hello to Fumiko for me. She is coming with two platoons of Kirigakure shinobi to assist you in the Land of Waves."

"Ah…Fumiko" Kikoshi smiled "it will be nice seeing her again."

"Yes that girl is quite something…by the way have you two…gotten any closer?" Maya asked with a mocking grin.

"What exactly do you mean?" Kikoshi asked with a blank expression on his face.

"You know…have you two shared a first kiss or even started getting intimate."

"MOTHER!" Kikoshi snapped his face turned red as a lobster with embarrassment "I am freakin seventeen for crying out aloud. You really think I would get into bed with a girl at my age."

"Well Hiashi and I"

"I don't want to hear it." Kikoshi said stopping her while he was trying to push the stories of her and Hiashi's romance days out of his mind. He didn't want to hear those stories again.

"Oh come on…you read Jiraiya's books and what do you think what kind of material is in those books?"

"And your point? You read them too and so does Sakiko." Kikoshi asked as he rolled his eyes.

Maya sighed "never mind, but I hope you have been looking into finding a suitable wife and matriarch for our new Hyuga Clan."

"I have been, but I'll marry whoever I think is the right girl for me."

"What about Sakiko?"

"I had thought about her…sure she is hot, but the girl is too crazy for me. Hell did you see what she did to one of the guys who tried hitting on her."

"Oh yes…that poor man. We never did find the rest of his remains. Not to mention her mutating genetics may cause problems in our family line." Maya commented.

"I don't care about the genetics, but it's just her easy to anger attitude and habits concern me. I still have a few years before I even decide to marry so maybe she'll change."

"Maybe…but despite her genetics I think she is the best choice for you. Next to Fumiko…now she is a very attractive woman who would make a good wife for you. She already likes you."

"What a gal…Fumiko is differently an interesting one" Kikoshi began as a smile appeared on her face. "I remember when she tried to summon the Sword of Kusanagi from the mouth of the serpent she summoned from her throat. She gagged on the snake while the sword was coming out." Kikoshi chuckled as he played with the memory.

"Yes I remember that…she wanted to learn the same snake jutsu you and Orochimaru use. Since that incident she has been summoning the sword from under her shirt sleeves." Maya let out a brief chuckle herself "She is quite the character…a beautiful one mind you."

"Don't forget she very adapt at water element jutsu and taijutsu." Kikoshi noted.

"Too true"

"Anyway…enough talk on what kind of woman I should marry and love. I better get going." Kikoshi said as he opened the door as he proceeded to leave.

"You'll have to choose someone."

"Well I still have at least two to three years left to worry about it." Kikoshi answered with a smile. "However I would like to go one week without you asking me about what woman I am interested in, how beautiful they are. The kind of woman I want is one as tough as nails and attractive."

"A tomboy is the kind of girl you are interested in."

"More or less…some of the women I have seen are too concerned with their looks. Those types annoy me."

"I guess that's true. Two tough shinobi as parents will mean strong children."

"Enough of this" Kikoshi walked out closing the door behind him. Once he was gone the closet door opened and Sakiko stepped out with a teary-eye expression.

"He thinks I am too crazy?" Sakiko sobbed.

"Now, now dear"

"And YOU said I am not a good choice because of my mutating genetics." Sakiko snapped.

"I only said that because I was trying to probe the matter to learn my son's other reasons if there were any." Maya said as she held her hands up in defense. "You're genetics mutates because of the experiments Orochimaru did to enhance your abilities. We both know that is how your body became photosynthetic...like a plant. That ability allows you to draw on sunlight and nutrients from water and soil to replenish your stamina."

"Yeah I know."

"Sakiko…I want you to accompany Kikoshi…I'll send Kimimaro to the Land of Waves along with you."

"Me." Sakiko replied happily.

"You three with Fumiko assisting you…Sasuke and his lackeys are as good as dead. After all Haku and Fumiko should both take out Suigetsu and recapture Juugo since Fumiko was a former member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist."

"You mean Swordswoman." Sakiko corrected.

"Good point…she was the only member of that group to be accepted at the young age of 12. She is a very talented shinobi…her mother was formerly a member of the Rain Village, but had her sent to the Land of Waves to be trained as a shinobi there due to problems she was having.

"I had expected her to turn out like her mom, but I guess she is more like her father and a bit of a tomboy. Anyway I am out of here." Sakiko replied as she hurried out of the room so she wouldn't miss Kikoshi and Kimimaro while Maya sat on her chair with a smile on her face.

* * *

The following morning Hinata arrived at the training field on time wearing an old pair of her training clothes she still had. They were a little small, but they would be sufficient for training under Anko today. As requested by the Jonin she brought a second pair of clothes as well in a backpack she was carrying.

The young Hyuga girl stood near the wood pillars waiting for Anko to arrive. After spending twenty minutes waiting Anko arrived as she appeared standing on top of the middle wooden pillar.

"Right on time little girl"

"Yes I am here and I brought a change of clothes just like you asked."

"Good…because starting today you will be part of my little boot camp." Anko said with a smile.

Hinata swallowed hard as she faced Anko while the young woman leapt down from the wooden post she was standing on. "Alright first I am going to fight you so I can see where you stand in terms of abilities, technique and strength."

"What?"

"How…you ask? Well it's quite simple" Anko answered with a smirk as she pulled out a single sliver bell on a string. "See this bell you need to get it from me if you want to win. You can use any jutsu and fighting technique you know…anything goes basically. Piece of advice though…in order to get this bell you need to be fully prepared to kill me for them otherwise you'll never get this bell."

"But…I don't want to kill you."

"Well then you better work up the nerve otherwise Kikoshi will kill you." Anko tied the bell onto her belt. "Ok ready set go!" Anko shouted as she pulled out three kunai knives from her coat and threw them at Hinata.

The young heiress didn't have a chance to shout out that she wasn't ready as Anko began her assault on the young girl. After avoiding the kunai knives Hinata dropped the back pack and ran for the trees with Anko hot on her tail.

The Jonin watched as Hinata ran into the forest as she used a fourth kunai she drew from her jacket to cut her finger. Throwing the kunai knife to the ground Anko began performing hand signs before slamming both hands on the ground as she shouted "Summoning Technique!"

In a puff of smoke a pair of large brown and black serpents, both large enough to wrap themselves around a small vehicle appeared around Anko.

"Ok guys…I want you two to go into the forest and find the little Hyuga girl and give her one hell of a fright. Don't kill her, but just chase her around towards me or my shadow clone I have waiting in the forest for her."

The two serpents understood their instructions as they zipped off into the forest to hunt down their prey. Hinata was currently sitting on top of a tree branch breathing heavily while she was using her byakugan to search the surrounding area for Anko, but someone appeared behind her smirking.

"You got to do better than that."

Hinata turned and saw Anko's shadow clone standing right behind her. Without a chance to attack Hinata was kicked in the face and sent falling out of the tree. As the young woman fell Anko began performing another series of hand signs

"Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique!"

Anko spit out four fireballs and all were failing straight for Hinata who managed to turn her body when she hit the ground to barely roll away from them before they struck the ground. The kunochi hurried to her feet as Anko leapt down and drove both feet into Hinata's face knocking her back onto the ground.

"Come on you have to come at me with the intention of killing me if you ever one to win."

Hinata flipped back up to her feet as she rushed at Anko ready to unleash a fury of gentle fist strikes, but something grabbed her leg and tripped her causing the poor girl to fall flat on her face. Behind her one of Anko's serpents had stealthy crept up on her and reached out with its tail to catch the young woman by her leg.

The young kunochi struggled, but with no success was Hinata able to free herself.

"What's the matter…you could easily kill that snake or free yourself by using your kunai to cut its tail off."

"But I don't want"

"Want to what? I saw you during the chunin exam and you did better then this."

"What is going on here?" A voice came as everyone looked to see Kakashi standing on a tree branch behind the two. The real Anko appeared next to Kakashi a moment later patting his back.

"Hi Kakashi what brings you here?"

"I came here to meet up with Naruto and Yamato in the near by clearing when I noticed this going on."

"I need Anko's help to get stronger. So I can be stronger than Kikoshi."

"I see…you know Kikoshi is your brother then."

"I was there when my father confronted the Second Otokage."

"Then you sought Anko out for training because she received similar training that Kikoshi received from Orochimaru."

"Yes…because I know I'll have to face him someday soon. I saw malice in his charka and hate when he looked at me. He claims he has no intention of harming anyone in the clan, but I know he is lying. I need to be stronger to face him to protect my little sister from him."

"You believe Kikoshi intends to wipe out the Hyuga Clan main family?" Kakashi asked him.

"Yes I do…tell me you don't think he would."

Kakashi was silent for a moment as Anko offered something to the conversation.

"He has a point…with the kind of hatred that man has I wouldn't be surprised if he was planning to take out Lord Hiashi and the rest of the Main Family. This whole alliance they want is nothing, but a front so they can back stab the village later."

Kakashi still remained silent for another moment before he said.

"You're right…I can't argue with you I know those two are planning something, but the question is what. Anko you better toughen Hinata up, but I'll keep an eye on you two since you may end up killing her." Kakashi answered as he looked at Anko with a look of concern for Hinata's well-being.

Anko smiled innocently "oh me? Come on Kakashi what kind of person do you take me for?"

Kakashi looked at her blankly "Is that a trick question?"

"Not funny." Anko remarked gruffly.


	11. Chapter 11 Moving Along

A/N: right on time…one week from today. Please enjoy the chapter. :)

* * *

Chapter 11

Moving Along

An hour later after Hinata had rested from her short scuffle with Anko; Kakashi and Yamato brought Naruto over to join their little gathering. Kakashi thought it might be a good idea for Hinata to face someone closer to her level. Unfortunately they were forgetting one small detail.

"Ok Hinata before you can go another round with me we need to toughen you up. You will be sparing with Naruto here." Anko beamed as she looked over to Naruto while Hinata was starting to turn red.

"Uh Kakashi are you sure this is a good idea?" Yamato whispered.

"Well I agree with Anko that Naruto should prove to be an opponent that is a little easier to handle."

"It's not that, but aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" Kakashi realized it a moment later when Anko for the two to begin the two shinobis' sparing match.

"Alright let's get this show on the road…Naruto I want you to use shadow clones and have them go against Hinata hand to hand ok."

"Sure thing, but Hinata are you ready?"

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata replied as she was blushing "Thank you for helping me."

"Nah its no problem." Naruto answered with a proud smile. "Get ready!"

"Ok!"

"Alright begin!" Anko shouted as Naruto created seven shadow clones around him using his favorite jutsu. As Naruto's shadow clones approached Hinata's face turned bright red before passing out on the spot.

"Oh that…Hinata's crush on Naruto plus her fainting spells she has around him." Kakashi replied.

"Yep" Yamato replied as they watched Naruto and Anko kneel down next to Hinata trying to wake the girl.

"Hey kid wake up!" Anko demanded as she nudged Hinata's unconscious form. After dispelling his clones; Naruto took the girl into his arms and tried shaking her awake.

"Hey Hinata can please wake up…we're suppose to be training."

After a few minutes of trying; Hinata slowly woke up, but when she realized she was in Naruto's arms she passed out again.

"Hinata must like me a lot to be passing out like this?" Naruto commented.

"So you finally caught on eh." Anko mentioned with a grin.

"Yeah?" Naruto said with tears streaming from his eyes because he remembered that he was perhaps the only person in the entire village who hadn't realized that Hinata had a crush on him until the other day. "Why did everyone know, but me?"

"Anyway" Anko said changing the subject "If Hinata is going to be training under me and working out with you we need to do something about her fainting spells." The purple haired girl turned to Kakashi "Hey Kakashi can you watch Hinata for a little bit?"

"Where are you going?"

"To seek expert advice from someone who knows the human psyche better than anyone in Konoha."

With those words Anko disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Around the same time Gaara was sitting in Tsunade's office with the Hokage of the village seated at her desk with Jiraiya standing near her. Shizune was sent out to take care of a few errands so Gaara, Tsunade and Jiraiya could talk privately. After checking the room over to make certain that no one was listening in…Gaara began their meeting.

"I am not sure if Jiraiya-sama told you, but we have learned the identity of the Akatsuki leader."

"He mentioned it…his name was Pain wasn't it?"

"Yes…he was formerly a Jonin from Amegakure, but recently we have received reports of Pain leading a revolt against Amegakure and the country's government. His exact intentions are unknown at the moment, but Lord Jiraiya and I both agree that before we can take any action against Pain we need intelligence on his strength, his defenses and his intentions…more specifically what is he planning to use the captured tailed demons for." Gaara explained.

"A reconnaissance mission…you know as well as I do that short of mission is very risky. We are talking about someone who is strong enough to keep the members of Akatsuki in line. Not to mention that the borders of the Land of Rain is well guarded since no one is allowed in or out without the country's government being aware of it."

"We know…which is why I came here to discuss this matter. We need information on their plans and the layout of their base of operations before we can even consider future actions against them such as a potential assassination mission."

"Chop off the head and the body will wither is what you are thinking?" Tsunade asked.

"That is what we are hoping, but there is another concern I have."

Tsunade seemed occupied as Jiraiya entered the conversation. "Based on what we know about the organization we think there could be the possibility of Pain being a figurehead leader while the true leader of the organization is still hiding behind the scenes considering how secretive their organization has been. Finding the identity of their leader seemed too easy."

"You have a good point."

"Hence we must learn whatever we can to confirm if Pain is the leader or is there someone else we are not aware of."

"You're right Lord Kazekage…we have too little information to action on, except for the identity of the Akatsuki leader. Anyone have any suggestions to who can carry out this reconnaissance mission?"

"Well…I say me." Jiraiya answered.

"You?" Tsunade asked.

"Well who among us here in both Konoha and Suna can pull off an infiltration mission of this nature?"

"But is there anyone we can send with you?" Tsunade asked.

"Sending me along with anyone else is a bad idea. If I go alone I'll be able to slip in undetected."

"But what happens if you are discovered?"

"No need to worry…the only person who has ever caught me sneaking around while I was conducting research was you." Jiraiya pointed out which seemed to lightly reassure Tsunade, but it didn't erase all of her worries completely.

"If I may…I might have an idea. The Lord of the Land of Rain has asked that I send a team of shinobi from my village to their country to aid in this civil war, hopefully bring it to an end. We can use it to cover to keep a trio of shinobi within the Rain Country so if the worse case scenario happens it may be possible for them to mount a rescue operation." Gaara suggested.

"I feel more comfortable with that, however...if you don't mind may I recommend that we include one of my own shinobi in the group. Someone who will make an ideal addition to the pair who can assist them should the worse case scenario happens."

"Its possible, in fact I have someone I would like you to consider. I heard of his tactical planning and strategic talents so I would like to ask that the shinobi you send is Shikamaru Nara." Gaara asked.

"If we send someone like Guy, Kakashi or anyone else with a noteworthy reputation Akatsuki they'll stand out too much and attract unwanted attention which is why I also propose that we have Shikamaru come back with us to Suna where we can stealthy disguise him as one of our own shinobi so we can smuggle him into the Land of Rain along with two of my most trusted shinobi."

"It's a clever plan…I have to admit for someone your age you are quite a capable Kazekage." Jiraiya complimented while Gaara remained silent.

"We better get underway with the plan. How long will it take you to get to the Land of Rain Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked.

"Give me a day and I'll be there."

"Could you hold off? I want Gaara's shinobi a chance to make their way to the Land of Rain."

"Ok…I'll hold off for a little while. Gaara when are you and your siblings returning to Suna?"

"Tomorrow morning." Gaara answered

"Good we can have Shikamaru sneak out with you and your siblings then." Tsunade said as the Kazekage only answered.

"Of course"

"I'll summon Shikamaru here after our meeting and give him his instructions."

"Anything else we need to discuss?" Gaara asked.

"No that is all I have." Jiraiya answered.

"Then our meeting is adjourned."

* * *

Inside the office of Konoha's ANBU Torture and Interrogation specialist: Ibiki Morino the seven foot-tall man sat in his chair shuffling through his paperwork peacefully until he heard a knock at his door. He glanced up at his door before he said.

"Come in."

"Hey Mr. Stiff." Anko greeted gleefully.

"Mitarashi…what are you doing here?" Ibiki demanded while giving Anko an icy stare.

"Man both you and Kakashi are the same…no one is glad to see me." The young woman remarked with a grin.

"Unless you have business with me, get out of my office. I am busy." Ibiki retorted.

"Ok, ok I'll get to the point. Listen I need a little help with a problem. I don't know if you heard, but I am training Hinata Hyuga as my student."

Now this got Ibiki to look straight up at Anko with concern on his face.

"Don't tell me you killed the poor girl."

"No, no she is alive and in good health...no worries."

Ibiki sighed "well good, but why are you seeing me then?"

"Well she is too timid to go a practice battle with me so I decided to have her go against Naruto, but…well we both know how shy that girl is around him."

"You forgot about that didn't you?" Ibiki interrupted.

"That's not the point!" Anko snapped.

"Which reminds me…you owe me 100 ryo in cash. No IOUs this time either."

"Damn you" Anko grumbled as she pulled out her wallet and handed Ibiki seventy six ryo. "I'll give you the rest on Friday."

"You better…anyway get to the point of this conversation."

"Look I need help to get Hinata to stop bloody fainting when she is near Naruto. Now since you are an expert on the human mind and soul you're the best person in Konoha who might have an idea how to pull it off."

"Do I look like a matchmaker to you?"

"That's not the point, but I don't have the time to allow things to work out slowly between them. It has to be a rush job."

"Then why not have Naruto and Hinata go on a romantic date together." Ibiki answered firmly.

Anko's face suddenly went blank "A date…that's it…no special methods or anything like that?"

"Yes…just have the two go on an evening outing with just the two them alone with one another."

"I don't know that will work."

"Just try it and then come back if it fails."

"Some help you were." Anko grumbled as she left Ibiki's office.

_Had I suggested anything else you would have no doubt gone overboard with the idea. Even this date idea…I am sure you'll take it a little too far. _Ibiki thought as he returned to his paper work.

* * *

Later back at the training grounds, Kakashi and Yamato watched as Naruto was attempting to wake Hinata up after fainting for the seventh time in the past few hours. Anko reappeared standing behind the two Jonin.

"Where have you been?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh no where special" The female Jonin replied with a smile.

"Are you up to something?" Yamato asked.

"What makes you think that?"

"You're smiling…what are you planning?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing" Anko answered innocently.

At that moment Hinata was beginning to wake up, but her body suddenly twitched for a moment before without hesitating or shaking Hinata pulled herself back up to her feet.

"Hey Hinata are you ok?" Naruto asked.

"Oh I am fine Naruto-kun." Hinata replied happily, but it was strange that Hinata didn't seem as shy she was a moment ago. "Uh would you mind if I asked you something?"

"Sure"

"Naruto…you're a dear friend to me so I was wondering if you would like to meet me tonight at your favorite ramen place at six."

"Uh…sure" Naruto answered as his cheeks turned a little red. "Wait a sec! Are you asking me out?"

"Yes" Hinata replied.

For once Naruto was embarrassed as his face turned red…Hinata smiled and walked away disappearing into the trees. Naruto found himself at a complete loss of words. Anko was grinning while both Kakashi and Yamato were looking at the woman with suspicion written all over their faces.

"Hey Naruto why not you head back to Konoha and rest for the afternoon. You don't want to be late for your date." Anko suggested with a wide grin on her face.

"Uh" Naruto began, but the words wouldn't come out.

"Go on Naruto you have the rest of the day off." Kakashi added.

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei." With that Naruto hurried back to the village.

Once Naruto was well out of earshot so he wouldn't overhear the Jonin shinobi talking; Yamato popped the question.

"What was that…genjutsu?"

"No…it was the Mind Body Switch Technique the Yamanaka Family specialty jutsu." Kakashi answered as he looked over at a pair of near by bushes and saw Ino poke her head out.

"Hello Kakashi-sensei." Ino greeted with a smile as she stepped out from the bushes.

"Ino…did Anko put you up to this? You took control of Hinata's body and asked Naruto on a date."

"She said it was in hopes to help Hinata build up her self-confidence." Ino answered.

"How is having Naruto date Hinata going to help?" Yamato asked.

"It's what Ibiki suggested so I began making arrangements for Naruto and Hinata to go on a date tonight." Anko pointed out.

"Ibiki? You saw Ibiki and asked him how to help Hinata?" Kakashi said as he rolled his right eye.

"Don't worry Kakashi…by tomorrow I'll put an end to Hinata's fainting spells and extreme shyness around Naruto." Anko said trying to reassure Kakashi while she patted him on the back happily while Kakashi was worried for Naruto and Hinata…he doubt having Ino taking over Hinata's mind to set the date up was the only thing she had planned…he knew tonight's date would be rigged.

* * *

A/N: well…next chapter Hinata and Naruto go out on a date with Anko trying to bring the two closer together. The results will be unpredictable to say the least lol. Thank you very much for the reviews and I appreciate them all. 


	12. Chapter 12 Moonlit Night

Chapter 12

Moonlit night

Within the confines of a remote cave hidden deep within a lush forest inside the Land of Fire; Tobi and Deidara were standing before the transparent visage of Pain, their superior and the leader of Akatsuki.

"Deidara have you recovered from your wounds?" Pain asked.

"Not yet…my shoulder still has a hole in it." Deidara replied as he kept one hand over where Kimimaro had stabbed him.

"When you are healed I want you to head towards the Land of Waves and wait near The Great Naruto Bridge. If everything happens as we expect it to…then you'll have a chance to capture the nine-tails."

"Great…you hear that Deidara-sempai! We'll get a second chance at that kid with the fox demon…maybe you can get even with"

"Quiet Tobi!" Deidara snapped.

"But"

"I said shut up!"

"Quiet both of you…Deidara once Naruto receives word that Sasuke is in the Land of Waves he'll no doubt pursue Sasuke. I want you waiting at the Great Naruto Bridge to intercept him." Pain ordered. "As for Sasuke, don't worry about him. We have made other arrangements for the boy to be dealt with so take care of the nine-tails."

Deidara only growled with distaste at his latest orders.

"Don't fail Deidara and don't even think about going after Sasuke. You know the punishment for defying orders." Pain warned as his transparent visage disappeared.

"Well at least you'll get revenge on Kakashi?" Tobi said trying to cheer up his partner, but his vain attempt earned him a small clay spider bomb from Deidara. The poor man was sent flying across the cavern they were hiding in.

* * *

As the sun was setting in the Land of Waves, the fishing boat that had been carrying Sasuke and his group had arrived at port. The group was currently donning brown cloaks over their black ones, except for Sasuke who had lost his in the previous battle. The group was traveling through the town trying to bend in with the locals to avoid drawing attention to one another.

The group was passing by a souvenir shop when Suigetsu noticed something on a telephone pole up ahead. The white haired youth approached the poster he saw posted there as he started reading what it said. After realizing what it was he tore it off from the pole before hurrying back towards Sasuke and the others.

"Sasuke duck into this alleyway now!" Suigetsu whispered.

"What's going on?"

"Just follow me and I'll tell you." Suigetsu answered as Sasuke and the others ducked into the nearest alleyway. Once the close was clear the swordsman handed Sasuke the poster he had pulled from the pole. "Check this out." Sakura was shocked by the poster she saw, because it was the wanted poster of Sasuke and his team.

"So…Kikoshi has put a price on my head."

"A big one at that…I wonder what I could get with all that money if I turned you in?" Suigetsu said with a grin.

"Suigetsu!" Karin snapped.

"Shut up…I was only kidding."

"Asshole, besides no lame moron can take Sasuke." Karin said boldly.

"No…that's not the point." Sasuke noted as he crushed the poster in his hand. "Bastard"

"What?" Karin asked as she didn't quite understand what Sasuke was trying to say.

"Are you clueless…the whole thing is a setup. Instead of just chasing us around Kikoshi is trying to use this to have anyone stupid or desperate enough for the money to do his work for him. If you think about it if enough people went after Sasuke and all of their attempts failed then word about their failures and where it happened will reach Kikoshi. He'll use that information to track us down a lot faster."

"Then it's only a matter of time before we have a run in with some nut jobs wanting the reward money." Juugo added.

"Right, which means we need to get out of town as soon as possible and find a place we can lie low for awhile until either things settle down or we acquire a means of moving around without having to deal with fools out to collect the reward on my head. With this mess happening now it will be harder for us to move around without running into trouble." Sasuke said as he considered his options. True he could take on just about anyone, but Sasuke had no intention of engaging in pointless fights which would only work in favor of his enemies.

Sasuke turned an eye, activating his sharingan, on Sakura who hadn't spoken a word since their discussion the previous day.

"But first we need to dump some dead weight." Sasuke said coldly as he used genjutsu to mesmerize Sakura putting her to sleep. Sakura fell back as Juugo caught the young woman in his arms. "Juugo take some money…there should be a trade caravan heading to Konoha. Arrange for her to be taken back to the village. She is of no further use to me."

Juugo hesitantly nodded his head as he turned to the other members of his team.

"Karin and Suigetsu…you two will come with me into the forest. Juugo meet up with us once you are done. We'll find a place to lay low for awhile until we can acquire a secure passage into the Land of Wind."

"The Land of Wind?" Karin asked.

"We'll go by sea and get off at a port. From there we'll take a back door route into the Land of Fire. Chances are if we reenter the country through the Land of Lightning or by crossing the bridge they'll be waiting for us. Once Sakura returns to the Hidden Leaf Village teams will no doubt be dispatched to search this side of the country for us, while they are doing that we'll sneak back into the Land of Fire and search for Itachi."

"So the girl isn't so useless after all?" Suigetsu commented.

"She is still useless, but we can use her to trick Konoha and Kikoshi into focusing their searches on this country and the surrounding area giving us more elbow room to look for my brother without having to deal with potential constant attacks from those out for my head. Once my brother is dead…then I'll deal with Kikoshi."

"Whatever, as long as I get to kill Kisame I'll do whatever needs to be done." Suigetsu noted before the trio left while Juugo walked away carrying Sakura.

A while after the group had departed from the alleyway, something began rising up from the ground. It seemed to be a humanoid, but truthfully it was a man whose body was something related to a form of plant-life. Zetsu stood inside the alleyway as the two halves of him were having a conversation.

"**Heh…Sasuke using that girl to throw the search parties off. Not a bad idea.**"

"But still we can turn it to work towards Kikoshi's favor. Let's be good upstanding citizens and inform the _proper _authorities about this."

* * *

Later that day, an hour after sunset and the moon was starting to rise into the sky over Konoha. Naruto was waiting at the ramen restaurant wearing his usual clothes waiting for Hinata to show up. Although Kakashi did suggest that he did at the very least try to wear something more presentable, but Naruto preferred to wear his usual outfit. The young man did comb his hair a little in an attempt to look for presentable. 

Iruka was there sitting next to Naruto trying to encourage the young man who he had noticed was nervous about his date with Hinata.

"Hey buck up Naruto…everything will be fine." Iruka assured before patting his former student on the back.

"I don't know Iruka-sensei…what do I say…I mean what the heck I am suppose to do?"

"Well…the best advice I can give you is."

"Yes" Naruto said hopefully expecting it to be the best advice in the world.

"Just wing it!" Iruka replied cheerfully as Naruto fell out of his chair with a confounded expression on his face.

"You know I could offer some advice if you are interested." Jiraiya said as he arrived on the scene with a smile.

"Heck no…I am defiantly not taking dating tips from someone like you!" Naruto snapped.

"Hey I'll remind you that I wrote two romance novels."

"Yeah two Adult Novels, not romance novels." Naruto counted as the two men looked ready to really start butting heads, but an almost quiet cough stopped them as both of them turned and saw Hinata standing there wearing a light blue kimono with white swans on it tied with a pink obi. The young woman even had a white rose on her right ear.

"Hinata" Naruto said as he started blushing at the sight of the young woman.

"Wow" Jiraiya and Iruka said in unison, not just because of Hinata's appearance, but because she seemed a little less shy somehow.

"So Naruto…um…what did you have in mind to do this evening?" Hinata asked as she took a seat next to the young man. So far the young Hyuga didn't faint.

"Well I was thinking about maybe having a bowl of ramen together." Naruto said as he got back up and sat down on his stool again. Seeing the two as close as they were, Iruka and Jiraiya were surprised Hinata still hadn't fainted yet.

_Is this possible? _Iruka thought while Jiraiya on the other hand was wondering how Anko helped Hinata conquer her fainting spells when she is around Naruto. From across the street Anko was standing there with a smile as she watched the two lovebirds with one another.

"How on earth did you do it?" A voice asked as Anko turned her head to see Kakashi standing there. "Hinata hasn't fainted yet or rushed behind a tree or another object."

"Oh I have been known to work miracles." Anko replied boastfully.

"Miracles eh…what did you have to do to get Hinata to where she is now. Do you have Ino controlling her?"

"Nope"

"You have Shikamaru hiding near by using Shadow Possession on her?"

"Nope…wrong answer."

"I can't believe what I am seeing. At this rate I may loose my bet to Guy."

"You betted against your own student to mess up on his date with Hinata, Kakashi I can't believe you."

"Sorry, but it seemed highly unlikely things would work out."

"Well I say everything is working out isn't it."

"I know" Kakashi said with a glum expression before someone else made a flamboyant entrance on the scene.

"I told you Kakashi never doubt the power of love…especially between two young people." Guy said proudly as he did one of his flashy poses.

"Ok easy on the dramatics Guy. The night is till young and their date has only begun." Anko said trying to keep Guy's antics from drawing Naruto and Hinata's attention towards them. Guy, Anko and Kakashi kept a low profile as they continued to observe the two lovebirds enjoy some ramen.

Eventually Jiraiya stood up and left the restaurant…upon exiting the toad sage noticed Kakashi, Guy and Anko. The legendary shinobi walked over to the trio as he fixed his attention on Kakashi.

"Enjoying the entertainment?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders "We weren't watching them for our amusement we wanted to see how it was going."

"Where are you off to now Jiraiya-sama?" Anko asked.

"I was about to head back to my room and get some sleep, but before I do…Kakashi we need to talk…in private."

"What's up?"

"It's about Minato's legacy, come with me."

"I understand…I'll see you guys later." Kakashi said as he beckoned his fellow shinobi good bye before he left with Jiraiya.

* * *

Later that evening back in the Land of Waves, Sasuke and his group had found a small cave near an old oak tree to settle down for the night. The group had a camp fire all set up and was about ready to turn in for the night with Suigetsu on first watch who would be followed by Karin and eventually Sasuke. 

Sasuke was laid back against a large tree root sticking out of the ground closing his eyes when he suddenly heard a twig snap. Wide awake and alert to a potential enemy lurking around as the young Uchiha readied himself for battle as did Suigetsu, Juugo and Karin.

"Whoever you are, come out of there!" Sasuke demanded.

From all around a group of at least twenty one villagers leapt out from the bushes around their camp armed with pitch forks, farming scythes and small knives.

"What the hell?" Karin snapped surprised by the unexpected attack by the villagers.

"This seems kinda soon for them to find us." Suigetsu commented.

Sasuke already knew…someone had tipped them off about him and sent the villagers after him. Considering the fact that it may have Sakura, but the young man somehow found it unlikely, but yet they were under attack by the villagers. They were no threat to him, but they were only a minor inconvenience to him.

* * *

Around the same time about several miles away from the Great Naruto Bridge, Sakura was regaining consciousness in the back of a wagon she had been placed in by Juugo after paying the owner to take her back to Konoha. 

"Where am I?"

Sakura sat up as she noticed an elderly man sitting at the front of the horse drawn cart wearing a green traveling robe.

"Oh awake finally…I was starting to get a little worried, but it's good to see that you're alright." The old man said with a kind smile on his face.

"Where are we?"

"Why we're on the road towards Konoha. I think we're at least four to five miles away from the Great Naruto Bridge. A tall fellow with orange hair brought you to me asking if I could take you to Konoha. He offered me quite a bit of money to take you with me. Did something happen between you two?"

"Did he say anything?"

"Nothing much, he only asked that I take you with me to Konoha and paid me to get you there safely… that's all."

"I see." Sakura said sadly as she sat down on the cart with her thoughts dwelling on Sasuke. _You are no longer the Sasuke I remember…you're more like Itachi now. Heartless, cold and dead on the inside,_ Sakura thought, but her moment of reflection was broken by a loud hissing sound. The horse that was pulling the cart started panicking at the sound.

A giant snake emerged from the trees on the right side of the road as it slithered out across the road blocking their path before it began surrounding the cart. Sakura stood up with her fists ready to confront the snake, but behind her a voice said.

"Sakura Haruno: the apprentice of Tsunade the legendary medical kunochi and current Hokage of Konoha."

Sakura turned around and saw Kikoshi standing next to the slump over old man.

"What have you done to him?" Sakura demanded as she threw her kunai at the pale skin shinobi who caught it between his fingers.

"Nothing really…I struck the side of his neck and applied enough charka to put him into a deep sleep. It will be several hours before he wakes up. A little nap never hurts doesn't it?"

"Who are you?"

"Shouldn't my appearance answer that question? I am sure you must have heard about me from your friend Sasuke. I am Kikoshi Hyuga…Orochimaru's second student."

* * *

Back in Konoha, after enjoying an eventfully evening eating ramen together. Naruto was walking with Hinata down the street accompanying the young woman home. It was only proper after all when a date is concluded the young man should walk his female companion home. 

As the two were walking along…Naruto decided to ask the woman a question. Something he had felt uneasy about asking all evening, now the shinobi had worked up the nerve to say it.

"Say Hinata…do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Uh…sure." Hinata answered.

"Well" Naruto hesitated for a moment. "You are interested in me right, I mean I found out that you admire me a lot. I was just wondering why?"

"Well" Hinata was starting to act a little hesitant herself "You remember what I told you at the training grounds on the day of the chunin exams."

Naruto thought hard for a moment trying to conjurer up that memory from the depths of his mind. After a minute of thinking he recalled the memory. Naruto remembered Hinata hiding behind a wooden post when she told him.

"You said you thought those who kept getting back up despite getting knocked down were strong to you or something like that."

"Yes…that's close to it. You're strength and determination never to give up or give in to enemy taunts is what inspired me to become a better person. That is why I entered the Chunin Exams, it's also why I continued to keep fighting my cousin Neji even through it was a loosing battle. I didn't want to look bad in front of the person I admire most."

"I think I understand." Naruto said as he never realized until now what kind of impact he was on Hinata. Hinata smiled before wrapping her right arm around Naruto's left arm holding it.

The two continued onward for a little while until they began passing through a small park that had a pond and a stone garden on the side of it. The two stopped next to the pond for a moment to watch a few of the small frogs hop out of the water and onto lily pads.

Suddenly someone suddenly appeared right behind them saying.

"Hey boss!"

Both shinobi were so focused on one another and the frogs that Hinata was startled by a certain young man's appearance while Naruto was just surprised by Konohamaru's sudden appearance. Hinata fell forward and fell into the pond as Naruto was able to keep his balance.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto shouted waving a fist at the small Genin.

"Sorry about that boss, but I just wanted to say good luck on your date."

"You're kinda late I was just taking Hinata home!" Naruto snapped as he felt like clobbering the boy right there. But Hinata had fallen into the pond so tending to her was more important right now in the young man's mind. "Hinata!" Naruto said as he stepped into the pond to help Hinata up.

Some frogs were sitting in Hinata's hair as the young man pulled her up.

"Are you alright Hinata?"

"I am fine Naruto." The soaked young woman replied as a frog jumped from Hinata's head to Naruto's.

"I think you got hitchhikers." Naruto commented with a grin while looking up at the frog sitting on top of his head.

"What!" Hinata began shaking her head as the remaining two frogs fell out of her hair. "Frogs?"

"Uh…I think you had some more." Naruto pointed out as he noticed movement inside Hinata's kimono.

"I…do" Hinata began shaking her kimono trying to get the other frogs out. After a few attempts a total of three frogs fell out of Hinata's kimono while a fourth frog, a little fatter than the others, poked its head out and croaked before it leapt out of the kimono's collar. Hinata's face turned bright red.

Konohamaru ran off deciding he didn't want to be around to get punished by his idol.

The two were left speechless following the incident until they arrived at the main gate into the Hyuga Clan dojo. Hinata was wearing Naruto's jacket to keep her from getting cold from the evening air. They looked at one another as the two arrived at the main gate; both of them were greeted by Neji.

"Neji what are you doing out here?"

"I was about to go for look for Lady Hinata. Her father was a little concerned that she was out so late. Before I left I noticed you two were coming when I used by byakugan to search the surrounding area for her." Neji explained as he noticed Hinata's appearance. "Did something happen?"

"She just had an accident…Konohamaru surprised us from behind and Hinata fell into a pond."

"I see…so judging by Hinata's attire I take it she went on a date with you?"

"More or less." Naruto answered as Hinata smiled while Neji was a little surprised that the young woman wasn't retreating behind a tree or fainting.

"Well then I guess the right thing for me to do is thank you for bringing Lady Hinata home. I hope you two had a good time, but Hinata please remember to tell your father where you are going next time?"

"I am sorry."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow Hinata, oh and be careful with your training with Anko ok. That girl is a real nut job." Naruto said, but less than a second later the blonde haired shinobi was hit in the side of the head by a brick. Naruto was down on the ground with a large lump on the side of his head.

"Naruto!" Hinata said as she panicked and knelt down next to the unconscious shinobi while Neji was searching with byakugan for the culprit.

Lurking near by inside a dark alleyway was Anko holding a second brick in her hand with a smirk on her face.

"A NUT JOB HUH." Anko crushed the brick in her hand "If I heard those words from your mouth again I'll put you in the ICU."

"Hey lady…where is my money?" Konohamaru asked as he approached Anko.

Anko turned and smiled brightly at the little Genin.

"Here you go" Anko handed Konohamaru a small bag. "Great job with your perverted jutsu kid, kinda...uh...unorthodox, but effective I suppose. Putting Hinata in a room with two…you know what's did the trick. She is now so use to Naruto she'll hardly ever faint or hide behind a tree again."

"Great doing business with you." Konohamaru replied happily as he counted the money inside the bag.

_You better be ready for tomorrow little girl…the real training begins. _Anko thought as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

A/N: whew…it took me awhile to figure out how I should do Hinata and Naruto's first date. I excluded the scene where Anko works with Hinata trying to make her more "use" to Naruto for rating reasons. Those who have seen the chapter where Konohamaru uses his improved form of the sexy jutsu will have a good guess of what method was used. Up next Sasuke and group vs. greedy villagers (we all know how that will end), Sakura against Kikoshi. Then it's a rematch between Kikoshi and Sasuke (only this time both shinobi are taking the gloves off.)


	13. Chapter 13 Vicious Vipers

A/n: after awhile the next chapter is up. Sasuke will surpass Kikoshi, but only after he has gained the addtional power he'll need following his battle with Itachi.

Chapter 13

Vicious Vipers

In a dense forest where a small waterfall was pouring water into a small lake before the water flowed into a small stream leading out to sea. A battle between two shinobi was taking place. Sakura was standing on a small stone at the edge of the waterfall in a fighting stance.

Walking slowly on the water's surface approaching the young kunochi was Kikoshi with one of his swords in his hand. His face carried a calm and expressionless appearance as his eyes were focused on Sakura.

"You are making this more difficult than necessary. I could kill you, but I am sure your friend Naruto and Tsunade wouldn't like that?"

"Then why not try it then?" Sakura snapped.

"You are no good to me dead…I need you alive, but that doesn't mean I can knock you around."

"Just try it!" Sakura shouted as Kikoshi charged at the young woman.

"Frankly dear I don't really have time to play around. I must reach the Land of Waves before Sasuke moves on, so…we'll end this quickly." Kikoshi stepped back as Kimimaro leapt out of the trees firing bone bullets from his finger tips. Sakura dove off the waterfall to evade them.

After swimming to shore the young Konoha Kunochi came under attack from someone wielding a large black Zweihänder decorated with jutsu formula decorating the blunt portion of the blade. The woman was wearing the same kind of shinobi gear and outfit worn by members of the Konoha ANBU black ops minus the tattoo commonly seen on their arm. On her head she wore a Kirigakure headband on her right arm.

"You're cornered!"

"Fumiko…be careful with this woman. She packs a powerful punch like her sensei Tsunade." Kimimaro warned as he and Kikoshi leapt down from the waterfall above. The two Sound shinobi were standing on the water's surface leaving Sakura trapped between the female swordsman and the two elite shinobi from Otogakure.

"I already know Kimimaro…besides against the three of us she has no chance." Fumiko said boldly.

"Don't start believing we have won yet until we have defeated her Fumiko." Kikoshi advised as he began gathering lightning-element charka into his right hand. Suddenly tree roots burst up from the ground ensnaring Kikoshi, Kimimaro and Fumiko. "What on Earth!"

"Yamato!" Sakura said happily as she recognized the ANBU agent's jutsu since…who else was capable of performing it.

"Sakura" Yamato said as he stepped out from a pair of near by bushes. "Get behind me…Naruto and Kakashi should be here soon. They ran into another group of enemy shinobi lurking in the area."

"Ok" A relived Sakura said followed by a sigh, but when the young woman got behind Yamato. Several tree branches burst out from Yamato's back and grabbed Sakura while at the very same time more tree roots shot up from the ground around her. "Yamato what are you doing?" The Yamato she had been speaking too was in reality a tree clone made to look like the ANBU shinobi.

"You thought you were safe because you were so sure it was Yamato since he was the only known person who was capable of using the First Hokage's secret jutsu. But I got news for you…he isn't the only one who can use the First Hokage's jutsu." Sakiko said as she rose up from the ground behind Sakura. The roots around Kikoshi and Kimimaro sunk back into the ground, but the roots around Fumiko remained.

"Sakiko…release Fumiko." Kikoshi asked.

The grumbling female kunochi did as she was asked as the roots around Fumiko receded back into the ground.

"Thank you Sakiko" Fumiko said while grinning at the young woman while Sakiko muttered a few cruse words under her breath.

"You are too gullible for your own good sometimes young lady." Kimimaro commented.

"Oh yeah just watch and see what happens when I get out of here!" Sakura shouted as furiously struggled to break free of the branches trapping her.

"Not a chance! We need you alive and unharmed." Kikoshi said as he rushed Sakura as he struck the woman with his clan's signature move the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Despite the branches, Kikoshi was still able to strike the charka points on Sakura's body…he only had to provide more charka into each blow allowing the focused charka strikes to hit their mark.

Sakura coughed up a small bit of blood before Sakiko recalled the branches holding the young woman back to the earth. The young kunochi dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. All of her charka points had been completely cut off leaving Sakura with no strength to fight back…she didn't have the strength to stand up.

"This could have been painless if you had simply agreed to come with us willingly."

"I am not" Sakura struggled weakly as she coughed up some more blood "going to."

"Let us kill Sasuke…your undying loyalty to someone who has no feelings let alone any thoughts about you is quite surprising. Besides Sasuke is a wanted criminal who is not only wanted by Konoha for his betrayal, but he is also the target of a number of hunter-nins who wish to execute Sasuke for the shinobi he has killed in cold blood. The families they left behind wish for their loved one's murder to be brought to justice."

"Sasuke wouldn't kill in cold blood!" Sakura said as she started weeping trying to deny what would have been possibly true.

"Wake up to reality little girl…your ex-friend" Kikoshi began with his voice dripping with venom "is a criminal wanted in the Lands of Lightning, Earth and Waterfall for crimes punishable by death."

"It's the truth Sakura" A new voice said as Homura Mitokado stepped out from behind a tree franked by two ANBU agents. "Sasuke is a potential threat to our village…not to mention his betrayal by siding with the likes of Orochimaru. He will not go unpunished and it is the will of our village and the order of council that Sasuke must be eliminated."

"But…its" Sakura's expression was a clear sign to both Homura and Kikoshi that Sakura was in denial despite all that has happened. Considering the feelings she has for him it shouldn't have come as a surprise.

"Homura-sama I'll let you and the ANBU black ops take care of the young woman. Kimimaro, Haku, Sakiko, Fumiko and I will go on ahead and intercept Sasuke."

"Are you sure he is still in the land of waves?"

"I am positive my information is solid." Kikoshi said with a grin on his face before removing his arms from the sleeves of his robe and activating his cruse mark to sprout his demon-like wings from his back. Fumiko tossed Kikoshi three kunai knives with paper tags attached to them before the immaculate shinobi shot up into the air flying towards the Land of Waves.

Meanwhile around the same time Sasuke, Juugo, Karin and Suigetsu were taking care of the villagers that had come after them while they avoided killing them. The two had been dispatching of the foolish mob by using only brute force utilizing their bare hands. Sasuke drove off another villager after he threw him against a tree.

Although it was their intention not to kill any of them, but the mob's determination forced them to either knock them out or drive them off after beating most of them senseless.

Admist the fighting Zetsu appeared standing on a tree branch several yards away from the battle where he observed three villagers trying to ambush the group from behind. With a grin the member of Akatsuki used a transformation jutsu to assume Sasuke's form before leaping down to attack them with a duplicate of Sasuke's sword.

Effortlessly two of the three villagers laid dead on the ground while Zetsu allowed the last villager to flee after he made certain the poor man had gotten a good look at his face.

"That was easy"

"**Too easy…hey lets hide before Kikoshi arrives.**" The dark half of Zetsu suggested as he fused with a near by tree and disappeared. Twenty minutes passed as Sasuke, Karin, Juugo and Suigetsu dealt with the last villager while most of the mob that had come to attack them laid on the ground unconscious while the rest had fled.

"I think that's it. The brought quite a large group, but these guys were nothing more than fishermen." Suigetsu commented.

"These guys aren't capable of taking on a shinobi so what the hell were they thinking?" Karin asked.

"When motivated by something they crave greedily they will mostly attempt something foolish to get it." Sasuke answered.

"You think the ones who escaped will bring reinforcements?" Juugo asked.

"It doesn't matter…we'll be long gone before they come back. We better leave now."

Suddenly the blood from Karin's face was being drained as she shouted "Shit…this is not good! We got to go now!"

"What is it?" Suigetsu demanded.

"Its Kikoshi…he's coming…he is closing in on his really fast."

From the sky above Kikoshi swoop down and deactivated his cruse mark pulling the sleeves of his robe back onto his arms before he landed on the ground in front of Sasuke and his group.

"You have come by yourself this time Kikoshi?" Sasuke said as he drew his sword.

"Sasuke it's nice to see you again so soon following our last battle. I see you have healed up well." Kikoshi cast a glance at the members of Snake. "Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo it's nice to see you three again as well."

"You're outnumbered Kikoshi…its four against one." Karin spat.

"Karin…I will challenge Kikoshi alone you three are not to interfere."

"But Sasuke!"

"Quiet Karin!"

"Don't worry Sasuke they will be too busy to be of any real help to you anyways." Kikoshi noted as he three kunai knives, one into each of the trunks of the trees behind him. After hitting their mark a summoning jutsu was activated. Clouds of smoke erupted from the tags on the kunai knives. Kimimaro, Sakiko and Fumiko appeared from the clouds of smoke and stood with Kikoshi.

"Now it's four against four…one opponent for each of us." Sakiko noted with a grin.

"Now Sasuke let our battle begin anew from where we left off." Kikoshi declared as he and Sasuke dashed off into the trees behind the group to battle while Kimimaro readied himself for combat while Suigetsu readied his blade. Fumiko turned her attention to the swordsman while Sakiko set her sights on taking out Karin.

Kimimaro of course was planning to confront Juugo.

On the far corner of the small island country; Sasuke and Kikoshi arrived at what the two had picked as an ideal battleground. It was far enough from the unconscious villagers as well as Sasuke and Kikoshi's teammates to ensure none of them would interfere. Without a word their battle was underway with Sasuke trying to get the first hit in.

He rushed Kikoshi while he was standing on a tree branch with his leg raised high to nail him in the face, although Kikoshi blocked it with his right arm and then Sasuke's follow up kick with his other leg in mid air. However in a impressive acrobatic feat he had stabbed a Chidori blade into the tree trunk the moment his first kick made contact with Kikoshi allowing Sasuke to twist his body after his second kick to land a third kick the side of Kikoshi's head with both feet knocking him off the tree branch.

As the pale skinned shinobi fell to the ground below Sasuke dove off the branch after his target with his charka sword extending towards its victim. Regrettably Kikoshi protected himself by covering his entire body with his wind charka nullifying Sasuke's attack. Kikoshi recovered his stance before he touched the ground while at the same time he drew both of his swords.

He imbued both swords with his wind element charka to counter Sasuke's lightning element sword. Sasuke drew his chokuto sword in response as he was only seconds from engaging Kikoshi head on in a matter of seconds. The sound of metal colliding echoed throughout the forest as the two apprentices of Orochimaru exchanged blows while they leapt from the ground to the surrounding trees jumping from branch to branch.

After deflecting Kikoshi's recent blows from his swords, Sasuke back flipped from the tree the two had been fighting on a few seconds ago while he tore off the shin guards he wore on his arms revealing not only the summoning tattoo Orochimaru used, but under his wrists were two summoning circles.

As Kikoshi approached Sasuke unveiled his technique as he activated the summoning circles on his wrists and launched a deadly wave of flying shurikens straight Kikoshi giving him very little time to evade. Thanks to quick thinking on Kikoshi's part he unleashed lightning charka from every charka point throughout his body protecting himself from the shurikens.

However Kikoshi countered by grabbing a passing shuriken before hurling it back at Sasuke while quickly performing a series of hand-seals for Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique changing one shuriken into many. Sasuke countered by quickly using a substitution jutsu to place a shield in front of him, but to quickly get out of harm's way. Although he successfully escaped, but a few passing shurikens had cut parts of his clothing.

As for the log he placed in front of him he watched it get slashed apart…it was just as Sasuke thought, Kikoshi had imbued those shurikens with wind charka increasing their cutting power. If Sasuke hadn't evaded them he could have been killed. Suddenly a kick to the side of the head knocked the young Uchiha down.

Kikoshi raised his sword up to stab the young man, but Sasuke sat up and struck Kikoshi in the face with a large tree branch lying nearby. Stunned for a moment, Kikoshi turned around brining his sword around to slice the tree branch in two while at the same time Sasuke launched himself off the ground backing away from the pale skinned shinobi while Kikoshi spat out some blood.

Speaking of whom, Kikoshi raised his sword arm up as several white serpents shot out reaching for Sasuke with snapping jaws while at the same time he landed both feet on the ground before jumping high into the air just as Sasuke summoned snakes from his arms to deal with them.

The Uchiha was about to get back up on his feet when suddenly Kikoshi drove him into the ground after landing on Sasuke's body planting both feet into his stomach. The young man coughed up some blood after Kikoshi's counterattack, but the battle was still far from over.

Several serpents appeared from the inside of Sasuke's robe and began wrapping themselves around Kikoshi's feet trapping him. The serpents picked up the young man and slammed him into a nearby tree behind him allowing Sasuke a chance to get up. Without warning Kikoshi exploded unleashing a shower of senbon needles.

Sasuke dived behind another tree just in time avoiding the shower of needles, but Sasuke quickly used his sword and sliced the tree through its base causing it to fall forcing Kikoshi to emerge from the tree's base. The former Sound Shinobi had used Leech All Creation: Attack Prevention Technique to merge with the tree Sasuke had taken sheltered behind.

Not wasting a second, Sasuke ran up the falling tree to attack Kikoshi head on. Before the pale skinned young man could do anything, just as Kikoshi was bringing his sword up Sasuke released his sword to form a quick hand seal as he blasted Kikoshi at point blank range with his Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique nailing Kikoshi square in the face.

The fireball hit home and the resulting blast sent Kikoshi flying backwards until he slammed back-first into a tree. Sasuke had a grin on his face as took some deep breaths before jumping off the tree and picking up his sword. Suddenly he heard Kikoshi laughing manically.

Sasuke looked over to where Kikoshi had landed and saw the young man struggling to get back up to his feet. The albino shinobi had lost his right arm along with his left arm was dangling against his side while the rest of his body was covered in second to third degree burns.

"Not bad…no one since Itachi and…those men have been able to inflict this much damage upon me in a one on one battle."

"Still alive!"

"Yes, but even you of all people should realize that to defeat a pupil of Orochimaru it's going to take a lot more than that to bring me down."

"I thought as much, but what is your next move going to be?"

"First…a little first aid is in order." Kikoshi grinned as two hands reached out from inside Kikoshi's mouth. Suddenly they began pulling on his mouth as the albino shinobi began shedding his skin. In less than a second his "old skin" laid on the ground while Kikoshi stood completely healed…even his clothes had been completely restored along with his limbs.

"So you're capable of healing yourself using that ability."

"Yes, as I said Sasuke we were both Orochimaru's students…the only difference is that one of us spent more time with him and other modifications had been done to our bodies."

"What kind of other modifications are you talking about?"

"Before I was born Orochimaru infused my unborn body with drugs and experimental medications meant to endow me with the regenerative powers of the white serpent. Didn't you know that white serpents aren't only a sign of good luck and rebirth, but the snakes themselves carry remarkable regenerative powers…even if their tails are cut off they can still survive. Like lizards they can grow them back very quickly, did you wonder why Orochimaru transformed his body into a white serpent…it wasn't their skin color."

"He wanted those same regenerative powers."

"That's right…he tested with drugs and experimented on me and others trying to successfully give us those same gifts. Only Sakiko and I survived the experiments, but Sakiko mutated and gained a few other abilities which I recall you saw. You saw how difficult it was to kill Orochimaru despite being decapitated."

"I don't care about the details…all that just says that I'll just have to make sure you don't get back up next time." Sasuke charged at Kikoshi with his sword in hand as the young man opened up his eyes wide. The Uchiha felt something was wrong, so on instinct he immediately leapt over Kikoshi heading for the branches above him.

There was an unexpected flash of light from below as a sword composed of pure glowing white charka was formed within Kikoshi's left hand a second before the blade shot out trying to strike the young man. It wasn't lightning charka…the blade was composed of a type of charka he hadn't seen before.

"What kind of weapon is that?"

"It's a special spirit sword that I gained the ability to summon using my own charka to bring the blade into existence. It's part of a special long-forgotten secret technique of the Hygua Clan, but its true origins lie with the Uchiha Clan because this technique was an incomplete jutsu used by the founders of the Hygua Clan long before Konoha was founded, but the original creators of this jutsu passed the knowledge onto their brethren who would leave to form the Uchiha Clan when they first developed the sharingan eye. In other words the Hygua Clan lost this technique to your ancestors, but it would only be truly perfected by the first possessors of the Mangekyo Sharingan as one of three techniques a possessor of such eyes could attain. I found a way to develop this jutsu on my own creating my own variant of the jutsu thanks to the assistance of my new sensei and my unique charka manipulation abilities."

Sasuke rushed the pale shinobi as he kicked on the side of the head and knocked him against the tree. Two snakes erupted from Kikoshi's sleeves and grabbed hold of the young man, but Sasuke used another burst of lightning elemental charka erupt from his body freeing himself.

The two shinobi leapt away from one another as Sasuke hurled lightning charka-formed senbon needles at his target while he prepared to launch a fire-element based attack. Kikoshi used his spirit sword to bat away the deadly projectiles. Sasuke launched his next assault as he used a fire elemental jutsu of his own creation, Rage Fire Dragons jutsu.

The jutsu uses the same commencement as the Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique, but instead of creating one dragon it creates four dragons that move straight at their target during and setting ablaze anything caught in their path.

Kikoshi readied himself as the dragons moved out setting the trees and bushes surrounding the two shinobi on fire before eventually converging on Kikoshi who generated a shield of charka around his body as the flame dragons engulfed him before continuing skyward.

The albino shinobi came out of it unharmed, but Sasuke didn't seem in the least bit bothered by what happened as the forest around them began to burn. Wary of what Sasuke had done to the area around them Kikoshi began preparing for whatever Sasuke may throw at him next.

It began raining as thunder was heard in the sky above them prompting Kikoshi to look up to see the cumulonimbus clouds, otherwise called thunder clouds. The pale skinned shinobi quickly realized the true purpose of Sasuke's last attack. He used those fire dragons to rapidly warm up the atmosphere above and generate a powerful rising air current to create those thunder clouds.

Sasuke made his way to top of the only tree that hadn't been yet set on fire as he began raising his right hand towards the sky while he was generating lightning charka in that hand. Examining the flames now consuming the area around him; Kikoshi concluded that Sasuke was also using the heat of the flames around them to assist him in the preparation of his lightning-element jutsu.

"I'll acknowledge you are formidable Kikoshi, but I am going to end this right now. This is jutsu's power source is lightning from heaven itself. All I have to do is guide it right through your skull. I call this technique Kirin, now Kikoshi you will disappear forever!" Sasuke declared as the lightning above came together and formed a large mythical beast high above seconds before Sasuke sent it down at its target.

Kikoshi was horrified at the raw power of such an attack as the lightning strike struck its target. The impact of the blast destroyed most of the area around the impact zone as Sasuke leapt up into the air to avoid getting caught in the blast. He had a smile on his face certain that there was no possible way Kikoshi could have survived that.

Breathing hard from having to use so much of his own charka to defeat Kikoshi, Sasuke saw no signs of the pale skin shinobi, but remained vigilant as kept his guard up as a precaution despite he was one-hundred percent certain his foe was dead.

However as the dust began to clear Sasuke was shocked when he saw a person standing in the center of the crater that marked the impact point of the lightning strike.

"That was a very impressive jutsu Sasuke. I can see why Orochimaru lost to you. Perhaps you are strong enough to face Itachi."

"Impossible! How could have you survived that?" A surprised Sasuke demanded.

The dust cleared and Sasuke saw how the white skinned shinobi survived. Kikoshi was currently transformed into his second state of his cruse seal turning his pale skin into a light gray with longer white hair and completely black doll-like eyes and his entire body was covered in a white glowing ethereal ghostly charka. The charka changed and began assuming a form identical to yamabushi armor and a tengu mask formed over the young man's face while an enchanted spirit long sword appeared in Kikoshi's right hand (it was the same sword Kikoshi used earlier in the fight) while a shield appeared on his left arm.

"You are the only one who has ever forced me to use this technique, it is the strongest and most powerful the Hygua clan has, but fortunately for me it was forgotten by the Hygua save for the one who trained Itachi the secrets of his Mangekyo Sharingan and taught it to me when I became his new student. This technique is called Susanoo, your clan also shares a similar technique, but only Itachi and my sensei know it."

As Sasuke readied himself for the next stage of their battle he kept his distance uncertain what kind of powers or abilities Kikoshi had now with this new technique he was using although it was certain that he was invulnerable to attack as demonstrated by the failure of his technique to finish him off.

Kikoshi read the expression of the young Uchiha's face and noticed he was acting a little more cautious now which was understandable, but Kikoshi needed to finish this fight quickly because this technique as powerful as it was has it limits. He needed to be in level two curse seal to use it and he would only have a short time to finish Sasuke off before the jutsu drains him of his remaining charka leaving him completely worn out and defenseless.

At best estimation Kikoshi had five minutes to defeat Sasuke before he would no longer have the strength to maintain the technique since the spiritually charka required for it was being seeped out from every charka opening on his body to create the armor around himself.

However a large clay bird struck the armored shinobi, although Kikoshi was still standing unfazed by the blast Kikoshi looked up and saw Deidara high above on one of his clay birds with Tobi on his own bird nearby.

"Deidara sempai we can't be here we're defying orders."

"To hell with Pain's orders I am going to kill Sasuke and that pale skin brat along with him."

_Damn it I don't need this. _Kikoshi thought to himself as fighting off Deidara and dealing with Sasuke would be a problem considering the very short amount of time he has while Sasuke was considering his options as his charka was almost gone.


End file.
